

1 

i 







^:^^..^ 






> 



)^ ^ ^ ^ « /- ^. 






"^.^^ 









- z 






"^ * \^ . 









\^.. 



^>1 
























V .s" 






>}> , N C , -^^ 













^0" 



.V 









v\ , N C 













"^ -C(^. 



w. 























r>0 






^^°^. 



'^ '^ -^ ° W, / .V'-.--, ■, \V .Y%' "',p " V;— l.il'il'IF— ,' ■■ .S '^ 





^^ . ^ '« >? ^<^ 



' ^ ' 









DCZJC 



DCZIC 



jcnz 



TEXAS 

GOVERNORS' 

WIVES 




By PEARL CASHELL JACKSON 



E. L. STECK, Publisher 
AUSTIN, TEXAS 



Dime 



Jl 



,^ 



3 cue 



DCUC 



UVQ 







.J'/B 



COPYRIGHT, 1915 



V^ 



©CI.A418006 

DEC II 1915 



In M^ Pear JrienJi 

DSD 

Who spurs me on to better things — 
WKo under all circumstances is 
cheerful and companionable — Who 
^ives me a friendship noble and 
sincere — I lovingly dedicate this book. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Governor's Mansion Frontispiece 

Mrs. Henderson 12-16 

Mrs. Pease 22 

The Pease Home, Woodlawn 24 

The Governor's Mansion, 1855 28 

Mrs. Sam Houston 32 

Mrs. Clark 38 

Mrs. Adele Barron Lubbock 42 

Lubbock Homestead on Sims Bayou 44 

Governor and Mrs. Adele Barron Lubbock 46 

Mrs. Hamilton 54 

Mrs. John L. Haynes 56 

The Hamilton Homestead 58 

Mrs. E. B. Turner 60 

The French Embassy of the Republic of Texas 64 

Mrs. Throckmorton 66 

Mrs. Davis 74 

Mrs. Coke 78 

Mrs. Hubbard 82 

Mrs. Frances Edwards Roberts 90-92 

Mrs. Ireland 98 

Mrs. Ross 102 

Miss Florine Ross 104 

Mrs. Hog-g- 108 

Mrs. Culberson and Daughter, Mary 114 

Mrs. Sayers 120 

The Parlors of the Mansion, Decorated for the McKinley 

Reception in May, 1901 122 

The Colonial Stairway at the Mansion 126 

Mrs. Lanham 128 

Mrs. Campbell 134 

Miss Fannie Brunner Campbell 138 

Mrs. Colquitt 142 

Mrs. Ferguson 148 

Mrs. Edwina Crockett Snider 150 

Miss Ouida Ferguson 152 

Dorrace Ferguson 154 



CONTENTS 

Preface 7 

Governors of Texas 10 

Frances Cox 11 

Martha Evans Gindratt 18 

Lucadia Christiana Niles 23 

Margaret Moffiette Lea 30 

Martha Evans 37 

Adele Barron 41 

vSusie Ellen Taylor 50 

Mary Jane Bowen 55 

Annie Rattan 65 

Ann Elizabeth Britton 72 

Mary Home 79 

Janie Roberts 83 

Frances Wickliff Edvs^ards 89 

Anne Marie Penn 96 

Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley. 103 

Sarah Stinson 109 

Sally Harrison 115 

Orlene Walton 121 

Sarah Beona Meng- 129 

Fannie Brunner 133 

Alice Fuller Murrell 143 

Miriam A. Wallace 147 



H 
X 
W 

o 
o 

>< 

« w 

> 
t— I 

o 

25 




PREFACE 

"What is, hath been — and tvhat has been, shall be; 
For naught is neiv — nay, naught beneath the sun/' 

— Roe. 

This is truly the Woman's age, and it is right and 
just that future students have these brief sketches of 
*'Our Governors' Wives" to glance over when they are 
digging in the whys and wherefores of Texas history. 

Emerson says there is no history, only biography. 
This is exemplified in French literature. The French 
are poor historians, yet their memoirs are the most 
interesting reading in the world, and the intimacy of 
the memoir gives an insight into the real life of that 
nation as no clear cold historical fact ever could. 

These life pictures of Texas Governors' Wives, in- 
adequate as they are, give a clearer understanding 
of the times, the customs, and the spirit of Texas. 
Pity 'tis, 'tis true — little is known of the lives of many 
of these women, and that only when the romance or 
the poetry of the individual appealed to the literary 
dilettante. 

If these sketches arouse enough interest to bring to 
light more definite knowledge of these interesting 
characters, Texas Governors' Wives, I shall not feel 
my work a failure. Some incidents quoted are ques- 
tioned, but to the best of my ability and with careful 
and laborious research, I have tried to state the facts,, 
human as they may seem. 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



History makes no mention of the influence these 
women had on their husbands and through them on 
their State. From a child I have lived in Austin. I 
have known most of the Governors' wives. Long ago I 
was struck with the interest that clusters around 
these uncrowned queens, and while yet a school girl, 
I would jot down in my note book some interesting in- 
cident that I happened to hear of, perhaps some bit of 
conversation concerning the first lady of Texas. Much 
of this happened long ago, but it is happening today, 
so alike is human nature. 

In this interesting group are many women of many 
minds, because it must be remembered the people of 
Texas are from everywhere ; it is a small world within 
itself. 

In the twenty-two biographies that I shall set forth, 
is almost every character known to historical woman- 
hood. Changing political conditions have had an in- 
fluence. From 1845, when "Texas was a country of 
whose fame the whole civilized world was ringing," 
enveloped in the romance and heroism of the Alamo 
and San Jacinto ; then torn by the conflicting strife of 
civil war, when brother was against brother and life- 
long friends became bitter political foes ; down through 
the terrible reconstruction days to emerge a State that 
is in the limelight of the Nation, these women of ours 
have been weighed, and not found wanting. 

If it is true ''uneasy lies the head that wears a 
crown," then 'tis true that our Governors' wives had 
their responsibilities. Carping criticism has burned 
into the heart of more than one, yet most (^ these 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

women had character and resolution, which are the 
parents of success. 

There is a queer old fisherman of Provincetown, 
Mass., with the blue of the sea in his eyes and the 
imprint of the cold northeast winds on his face, who 
has the reputation as a witness in court of never ex- 
pressing his opinion on any subject. No matter who 
asked him, or what was asked, it seemed impossible 
for him to give a direct reply. The lawyer tired 
himself out trying to get him to give an opinion as to 
the moral character of the defendant in a certain case 
on trial, and, giving up in despair, appealed to the 
court. The judge regarded the witness sternly and in 
a severe tone inquired : 

'Witness, do you believe that the defendant is a 
good man or a bad man? Answer me straight." 

"Jedge," said the old man earnestly, "sometimes 1 
think he is an' sometimes I think he ain't, but I've 
never been able to make up my mind on it." 

Unlike this man, I shall tell of these women what 
I know or what an older generation knew, try to 
put them before you, each in her own administration 
surrounded by the cares, the joys, and the atmosphere 
of the time until I bring them down to the stress of 
present-day progress. But after all these years of 
study and interest in this subject, I must say 

"All things I thought I knew, but now confess 
The more I know, I know the less." 

— Pearl Cashell Jackson. 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



GOVERNORS OF TEXAS 

James Pinckney Henderson... 1846-1847 

George T. Wood 1847-1849 

Peter H. Bell 1849-1853 

Elisha M. Pease 1853-1857 

Hardin R. Runnels... 1S57-1859 

Sam Houston ...1859-1861 

Edward Clark .....1861-1861 

F. R. Lubbock 1861-1863 

Pendleton Murrah 1863-1865 

A. J. Hamilton (appointed) 1865-1866 

J. W. Throckmorton 1866-1867 

Elisha M. Pease (military) 1867-1869 

E. J. Davis 1870-1874 

Richard Coke 1874-1876 

R. B. Hubbard...... ....1.876-1879 

0. M. Roberts 1879-1883 

John Ireland 1883-1887 

L. S. Ross 1887-1891 

James S. Hogg 1891-1895 

Charles A. Culberson 1895-1899 

Joseph D. Sayers 1899-1903 

S. W. T. Lanham 1903-1907 

Thos. M. Campbell 1907-1911 

Oscar B. Colquitt ....1911-1915 

James E. Ferguson 1915- 

10 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



FRANCES COX 

WIFE OF JAMES PINCKNEY HENDERSON 
GOVERNOR FROM 1845 TO 1847 

In the time-yellowed Lamar papers at the State 
Capitol in Austin is a letter from the brilliant young 
diplomat, James Pinckney Henderson, minister to 
France from the Republic of Texas, written from 
Paris, where he w^as stationed, to President Lamar. 

This letter is dated September 26, 1839, and includes 
this postscript: 

"I could not very well tell you in the body of this 
letter which is semi-official, that I am about to be 
married, which you may be surprised to hear, con- 
sidering mj^ bad health. But do not be surprised that 
one of your constituents is to be married in Paris, 
because it is not to be a French or even an European 
lady, but one of our own country, a native of Phila- 
delphia, who has been in Europe for eight or ten years. 

J. P. H." 

It seems typical of the future greatness of Texas, 
that the then future wife of J. Pincknej^ Henderson, 
our first Governor, was a woman fitted to adorn any 
position; and when I assert that her superior has 
never been found among our numerous Governors' 
wives, it does not, in the least, reflect upon any one of 
them. 

It has been said of Frances Cox that, if she had 
been dropped down in almost any obscure corner of 
Europe, she would not have found herself embar- 

11 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. HENDERSON 
Copied From a Portrait Made Soon After Marriage 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

rassed in addressing the people; for nearly all these 
tongues had been learned by her in actual conversa- 
tion with the people of these various nationalities as 
well as through books. Outside of the educated Rus- 
sian or Polish woman who has the gift of many 
tongues, few women have the wonderful ability to 
translate twenty-eight languages. She fluently spoke 
twenty-two. She learned Russian after she was sixty 
years of age, and that, too, without a teacher. 

Frances Cox was a finished musician. At eight 
years of age she could read the most difficult music. 
Later she was perfect master of the piano and the 
harp. She was specially an expert on the harp, which 
was not only an outlet for her well-trained voice, but 
showed to advantage the grace and symmetry of an 
unusually good figure. 

She had a remarkable memory, never forgetting any- 
thing once learned, her brilliant mind lasting to the 
day of her death. 

It is said that, in the salons of France, master 
mathematicians have tried to catch her, but she could 
easily work a problem in her head that they would 
solve with paper and pencil. 

She was a daring horseback rider, and a swimmer of 
no mean ability. While Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were 
living in Texas, and men came on horseback to see the 
Governor, her younger daughter, Julia, who inherited 
a good many of her mother's accomplishments, used 
to "try" their horses. 

Mrs. Henderson was a devout Episcopalian, and not 
only assisted in building pioneer churches, but edu- 

13 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



cated several young ministers for that church. At 
San Augustine, Texas, she built the first Episcopal 
Church out of her own private fortune, and a memorial 
church of that order marks the resting place of her 
daughter Martha, who died abroad. She was a 
philanthropist when Texas had many calls, and no one 
was ever turned from her door empty-handed. 

Mrs. Henderson crossed the ocean fifteen times, 
traveling over 60,000 miles, when traveling was not so 
luxurious as it is nowadays. 

"She exemplified the highest type of American lit- 
erary women. Among her original tales, 'Triscilla, 
the Freed Woman," is considered one of the finest de- 
lineations ever made of negro character. It was 
written after several winters spent on her daughter's 
plantation home in Louisiana. It is not out of 
place to say she wrote of the negro from the view- 
point of the Southern rather than that of the Northern 
writer ; but it is not so much Mrs. Henderson's original 
writings as her translations of foreign tales and 
dramas, that place her on the literary roll of honor. 
These translations are not only from many different 
tongues, but they represent a wide range in variety 
and in literary style. She was enough at home in 
the manners and customs of the different people to 
grasp the spirit of the original writer. "Dunderik- 
borg and Other Tales," by Mrs. Pinckney Henderson, 
are in Show Case D of the State Library. 

Frances Cox Henderson was born in Philadelphia, 
July 21, 1.820. She was the second daughter of John 
Cox of that city and Martha Lyman of Northampton^ 

14 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Mass. The Lymans trace their lineage without a 
break to Alfred the Good of Old England. 

Mr. Cox took Frances and her sister abroad, where 
they lived for ten years — the girls receiving the most 
thorough education of that time. After a brief court- 
ship, the brilliant but frail James Pinckney Henderson 
married Frances Cox in October, 1.839. He and his 
bride reached Galveston in January, 1840, and ar- 
rived in Austin the same month while Congress was in 
session. 

They made San Augustine their first home, the 
young wife interesting herself in church and house- 
hold affairs, while her husband built up a splendid law 
practice. He was elected first Governor of Texas in 
1845. Mrs. Henderson never lived in Austin. The 
State was in turmoil over the disputed boundary be- 
tween Texas and Mexico. Governor Henderson left 
his civil duties in the hands of Lieutenant Governor 
Horton, and took his place in the army. The Texans 
were in the front of the fighting, and Mrs. Henderson 
with her small daughters waited with other anxious 
hearts for news from the front. After the close of 
the war. Congress presented Governor Henderson 
with a handsome jeweled sword as a token of appre- 
ciation of his services. This sword is now in the pos- 
session of his grandson, the scion of an old Austrian 
house. 

After Governor Henderson's death in 1857 and be- 
fore he took his seat in Congress, his family lived at 
their home in San Au^rustine, and later, at Marshall, 
but at the beginning of the Civil War, Mrs. Henderson 
took her children and went abroad, after seventeen 
years spent in Texas. Her people were Northern, his 
people were Southern. She could not take sides. 

IS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. HENDERSON 
From a Photograph Taken When She Was Living in Orange, N. J. 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

It was at this time that her eldest daughter, Fanny, 
who was a great toast in the capitals of Europe, mar- 
ried Baron Clemens von Preuschen, an officer in the 
Austrian army. Her husband died in 1903 with 
the title of general. The Baroness von Preuschen 
is still living at her beautiful home in Salzburg, 
Austria. She has three married sons; one. Baron 
Ernst von Preuschen, an officer in the Royal Guards 
at Vienna; the second, Baron Franz von Preuschen, 
an officer in the Austrian navy. This son was at 
one time the naval attache to the Austrian em- 
bassy in Washington. The third son. Baron Clem- 
ens von Preuschen, has now retired and lives in Salz- 
burg. Her second daughter, Julia, married Edward 
White Adams of Louisiana. They lived on his big 
sugar plantation, and Mrs. Henderson spent several 
winters with them. Her last days were spent in Or- 
ange, N. J., with this same daughter and her interest- 
ing family. Frances Cox Henderson died there of 
paralysis at the age of 77. The son of Julia Hender- 
son Adams is now living in Fair Haven, Vt., and is 
named in full for his brilliant grandfather, James 
Pinckney Henderson Adams. He is an alumnus of 
Yale. Mrs. Julia Adams' only daughter, Mrs. Julia 
Henderson Geisler, lives in Oklahoma City, Okla. She 
inherits to a marked degree the talents of her grand- 
mother, Frances Cox Henderson, whom the gods fa- 
vored with beauty and far-reaching charm. 

Another bit of fate indicative of the future great- 
ness or the Lone Star State and of the women who are 
called to its highest official life is, that Mrs. Henderson 
was not Northern or Southern. She was cosmopoli- 
tan, a Philadelphian by birth, an European by educa- 
tion, and a Texan by choice. 

17 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MARTHA EVANS GINDEATT 

WIFE OF GEORGE T. WOOD 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1847 TO 1849 

Frances E. Willard once said, '^Success does not hap- 
pen. It is org-anized, pre-empted, captured by con- 
secrated common sense." 

Be that as it may, the overland trip that George 
T. Wood, the successful young business man, took 
from Cuthbert, Ga., to New York, in the year 1836 — a 
difficult trip, since there were no railroads in those 
days — stopping- en route at Milledgeville, Ga., there 
to meet and woo the attractive young chatelaine of 
an old colonial mansion, was the most successful trip 
of that young man's life. After lingering at Milledge- 
ville long enough to secure the consent of Mrs. Gin- 
dratt to a marriage on his return, the young merchant 
went to the coast, and there took passage for New 
York to buy his winter stock of goods. 

The summer was spent by the young widow dream- 
ing of her hero lover; for even at that early age 
George T. Wood was quite a celebrity on account of the 
bravery he had shown during the Creek War in Ala- 
bama. It was no easy matter to prepare a trousseau 
at that time. There was spinning and weaving and 
sewing to be done, for this young woman, whose home 
stood on a land grant to one of her forefathers, who 
was a colonist under Oglethorpe, believed in looking 
to the ways of her household. She had slaves in plenty 

18 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

to help ; for Martha Gindratt, living in her old South- 
ern home with its white-pillared galleries and the 
moist, sweet odors of the crepe myrtle and the jasmine 
blooms, was well supplied with this world's goods. 
She was an own cousin of the late Clemant A. Evans, 
of Atlanta, Ga. In the soft moonlight she would walk 
down the mulberry-shaded avenues and dream of the 
new life amid new surroundings she was about to 
begin. 

They were married in the fall of 1837, and went 
to Cuthbert to live. But at that time Texas was the 
El Dorado for the men of the older States. The ro- 
mantic history of the Alamo and San Jacinto was 
known to the civilized world. The Woods decided to 
go to Texas. They took with them their slaves, mer- 
chandise, and the old family Bible, and embarked at 
Fort Gains, Ga., coming down the Chattanooga River 
to Apallachicola Bay, where they chartered the steam- 
er Shamoy and sailed for Texas. They were caught 
in a tropical storm off New Orleans, and had a fright- 
ful experience, but their life work was ahead, and 
they landed in Galveston in 1839. Galveston at that 
time consisted of one hotel, where the sailors gathered 
to get their grog, and a few farm houses. Frequently 
a Spanish gold piece was picked up in the sand, where 
it had been dropped by one of Lafitte's overburdened 
pirates. 

Here Mr. Wood left his wife in charge of his young 
step-son, David S. Gindratt, and a few of the trusted 
slaves. The other slaves he took with him and started 
for a trip up the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity Rivers. 

19 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



He explored the adjacent land, and selected the rich 
alluvial soil on the Trinity at the place now known as 
Point Blank. This then was truly the forest prime- 
val, for no friend or foe was to be seen. The slaves 
were put to work, log cabins were built, the most pre- 
tentious being reserved for the master. The rich 
earth seemed to be waiting the hand of the settler to 
transform it into the land of peace and plenty. The 
women joined them, and amid all the hardships and 
terrors of pioneer settlers their home was formed. 
The every-day duties kept heart and hand busy, and 
personal discomforts were cheerfully endured. 

George T. Wood was consecutively Representative, 
Senator and Governor. His capable wife did not ac- 
company him to Austin, but remained at home and 
reared his two children, a girl and a boy, besides the 
daughter and two sons by her former marriage. Of 
these, her daughter, Mary Wood Albea, who is now 
living with a son, in Dallas, is the only one who sur- 
vives. 

Here at Point Blank, Mrs. Wood lived the typical 
life of the early settler's wife. She never came to the 
capital, for journeys in those days were not only 
tedious but dangerous; the wily savage had not 
yet made up his mind that the white men were really 
going to wrest from them their happy hunting grounds, 
and never spared a chance to take revenge of the 
solitary caravan, whether it was a lonely pack train 
or an unprotected carriage with women and children. 
So, while superintending the negroes and rearing the 
children, she, in numerous ways, encouraged her hus- 

20 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



band in his political aspirations; he stayed at the 
Bullock Hotel in Austin while Governor of Texas, con- 
tenting himself with a visit now and then to his fam- 
ily down on the farm. Be it said to his credit that the 
State's financial affairs were rather depleted and funds 
for personal desires and State ambitions were set 
aside in accordance with his political slogan: ''The 
debt must be paid ; the honor of the State must stand 
without a blemish." 

In the late '50s Martha Gindratt Wood was placed 
in death beside her husband in the plot known as the 
Wood Cemetery in San Jacinto County, and their 
unmarked graves were almost lost to the memory of 
man. Through the intervention of S. H. German, of 
Livingston, Texas, the Thirty-second Legislature ap- 
propriated the money to place a suitable monument 
over the grave of Governor Wood. Historians do not 
agree as to date of his death, and his family say the T 
in his name stands for Tyler, while Mr. German in- 
sists it is for Thomas. While a late note from Mr. E. 
A. Winkler of the University Library contained the 
following: 'The Harrison Flag, a newspaper pub- 
lished at Marshall, on September 24, 1858, published a 
brief notice to the effect that George Travis Wood, Ex- 
Governor of Texas, died in Polk county September 6, 
1858." Thus are some of the difficulties of exactness 
shown in writing about the less known wives of Texas 
Governors. At present not even a wooden slab shows 
that the faithful wife lies in the half-sunken grave by 
his side with only the whispering pines to sing her 
requiem. 

21 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. PEASE 

The First "Mistress of the Mansion' 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



LUCADIA CHRISTIANA NILES 

WIFE OF ELISHA M. PEASE 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1853 TO 1857, AND FROM 1867 TO 1869 

Someone has aptly said, ^**Men love adventures, 
women love men." This must have been true in the early 
fifties, else why \vould a girl raised with the care and 
culture given to a daughter of an old New England 
household leave the home where her mother came 
as a bride and come to far-away Texas to cast her lot 
with the pioneers of the new State? 

Straggling back from the towm of Windsor, Conn., 
is the village of Poquonok, and the old homestead 
where Lucadia Niles was born is still occupied by a 
member of the Niles family, Henry Ladd. Not far 
away, at the Hartford Female Seminary, she was ed- 
ucated with all care and thoroughness given to an East- 
ern girl of that period. The principal of this school 
was Miss Catherine Beecher, sister of Henry Ward 
Beecher. 

Lucadia Niles was married to Elisha M. Pease in 
1850, and came a bride to Texas in the same year. 
They were accompanied by Miss Pease, a sister, who 
was to be a companion for the young wife in her far- 
away Texas home. They settled at Brazoria, a flour- 
ishing place for that time. Mr. and Mrs. Pease bought 
their small but well-selected stock of household fur- 
niture in New York and had it shipped to Brazoria, 
for boats then came to that little port. Mrs. Pease had 
one of the most comfortably furnished houses in the 

23 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

town though it was only a small three-room cottage. 
The only two-story house in Brazoria at that time was 
occupied by Judge C. Townes, an uncle of Judge John 
C. Townes of Austin. In bad weather the streets 
were bog holes. The yards had no fences, and the 
weeds grew with rank luxuriousness up to the front 
door. Mrs. Pease, with the memory of the well-kept 
flower beds back in old Poquonok, set herself to clear 
the space in front of her home. This energy from the 
little Yankee new-comer was the cause of much mer- 
riment among the indolent Southern aristocrats. 

Mrs. Pease had some shuck mats plaited and made 
for the future Governor to wipe his feet on. He 
laughingly told her she had better bring them inside, 
as some stray cow would eat them. She paid no at- 
tention, however, and next morning her mats had dis- 
appeared. 

Mr. Pease ordered side-saddles for his wife and 
his sister, but the boat bringing them was lost in a 
Gulf storm, and these ladies had to do without. How- 
ever, Mrs. Pease was the first lady in Brazoria, and 
probably in Texas, to have a carriage, a small old- 
fashioned coupe; but the elegant Mrs. Wharton and 
the wealthy Mrs. Townes did not scorn to borrow this 
carriage for special occasions. At other times, when 
the roads were impassable, all of the ladies rode horse- 
back. At this time Brazoria did not have a church, 
so the different denominations held services from time 
to time in the courthouse. Now and then came a 
young Catholic priest, who, aside from his spiritual 
ministrations, gave much pleasure to the little com- 

25 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



munity by teaching Latin and in other ways stimu- 
lating the hungry minds of the little colony. 

When her husband was elected Governor of Texas, 
in 1853, the young couple sold all their furniture, as it 
was impracticable to bring it in ox wagons to the 
capital, and so they came with only their family 
silver. Governor Pease, his wife, and their small 
daughters, boarded with Mrs. Ward in a well-made, 
dormer- windowed cottage that stood where the Lewis 
Hancock home now stands. Later Colonel Ward was 
appointed consul to Panama, and Mrs. Pease took this 
opportunity to purchase from them some very desira- 
ble old mahogany furniture. After all these years 
some of that furniture adorns the Pease home on the 
Windsor road in Austin. 

It was fortunate for Texas that Governor Pease, 
with his advanced ideas in philanthropy and his New 
England ideas of thrift, was at the helm when the 
$2,750,000 was paid for Indian claims. 

The eleemosynary institutions were founded, the 
old Capitol was completed, and the Governor's mansion 
was to be built. The State wanted the mansion built 
where the land office now stands, but Governor and 
Mrs. Pease preferred the present site, with an east 
front. Accordingly the location was changed. Col. 
Abe Cook was the great contractor in those days. He 
built the mansion, and later the Pease home on the 
bluff west of Shoal Creek. Be it said to his credit the 
work is still good. The plaster in one room of the 
Pease home has stood for over fifty years, and the 
red cedar cornices are as good as when put there half 

26 



\ 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



a century ago. This remark is made for the benefit of 
those who would say : 'The old mansion is not worth 
repairing." This house, a colonial brick, is in such 
good taste that today it but needs the addition of two 
colonial wings to make it one of the best specimens of 
architecture in the State. May a loyal Texas never 
stand for a new mansion. Enlarge our dignified his- 
toric house if necessary, but let not the new-rich or 
the late-comer suggest tearing away our State build- 
ings, around which hang the glamour and the dignity 
of our splendid pioneers. 

Col. S. M. Swenson went to New York and bought 
the furniture, carpets, and hangings for the mansion, 
and while Mrs. Pease was visiting in the East, Gov- 
ernor Pease moved in, and all was in readiness for her 
return. 

While Mrs. Peebles, a Texas friend, was her guest, 
Mrs. Pease planned and carried out one of the most 
striking entertainments ever held there. A stage was 
erected in the back parlor, footlights were arranged, 
and theatricals and tableaux delighted the audience. 
It is more than probable that the brilliant Florence 
West, the golden-haired Ellen Robinson, and the pop- 
ular Eliza Chalmers (an aunt of Henry Chalmers 
Roberts, London editor of the World's Work) played 
leading parts. Afterwards the guests were invited to 
the dining-room, where the handsome table was 
weighted with the delicacies of the season. High cut 
glass standards held the sparkling jellies. Delicious 
custards were wonderfully attractive in pyramids of 
glass, while huge epergnes held the decorative fruits 

27 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



instead of the fine flowers of today. Amidst the throng- 
moved Mrs. Pease, quiet and unassuming, but a woman 
of fine character. She had a few staunch friends, but 
held aloof from the masses, not so much from a feeling 
of superiority as from the natural diffidence of a New 
England character that is sufficient unto itself. 

Mrs. Pease was a careful mother, and the dread of 
danger was never far from the woman of that time. 
Only a year before Indians had surprised and cap- 
tured two children at play, where Mrs. Eugene Bre- 
mond's home now stands, using the picturesque bluff 
to the south as a defense in retreat. 

Miss Julia Pease, the only surviving daughter, lives 
on the beautiful Pease estate west of Austin. She has 
rare executive ability and a dignified charm that re- 
minds one very much of her gentle mother. Miss 
Pease is a Vassar graduate and has traveled extensive- 
ly, and is prominent in the intellectual and social life 
of Austin. 

Lucadia Niles Pease died on January 28, 1905, in 
Austin, and is at rest by the side of her husband and 
their daughters, Carrie and Annie, in beautiful Oak- 
wood Cemetery. 



29 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MARGARET MOFFIETTE LEA 

WIFE OF GENERAL HOUSTON 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1859 TO 1861 

There never was hair like my mother's; 

'Twas jet in a setting of gold, 

Like midnight asleep, in rich masses, 

With daylight awake on each fold. 

''No wonder my father so loved you," 

I mused, looking up in her face ; 

For motherhood, freighted with trial. 

Had not stolen her beauty and grace; 

Her dress was the deepest of mourning. 

And her hands were so waxen and white. 

I thought of the pure snowy blossoms 

That open their petals at night. 

Then she told in tones like low music. 

The story that measured her life, 

Her girlhood, its beauties, its triumphs. 

Ere the love crown had made her a wife. 

She painted a picture so vivid 

I fancy it dawned on my view 

Of the evening my father first met her, 

When the old life was lost in the new. 

She told how her dress, white and spotless 

And the curls of her dark flowing hair. 

How her blue eyes, her fresh, simple beauty 

Charmed his heart in a lifetime of snare. 

She told me the scene of betrothal. 

In a beauteous garden of flowers, 

30 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Of the lovely enchanted Bay City, 

Where glided her girlhood's bright hours. 

Then she pictured the eve of her bridal, 

When, leaving behind every tie, 

She followed her heart's chosen ruler 

To dwell 'neath a far-distant sky. 

Then my mother's sweet face kindled proudly 

And she said, in a low earnest voice; 

"When I married your father, my daughters. 

Of the whole world I wedded my choice." 

I cannot resist beginning this sketch with the beau- 
tiful word picture written by Nettie Houston Bring- 
hurst, the poet daughter of Margaret Lea and Sam 
Houston. 

Mrs. Margaret Stiles told me she went to the 
Houston inaugural ball. I said : "Please tell me about 
Mrs. Houston. How did she look? What did she have 
on?" "Pshaw! I did not look at her; I had heard so 
much about Sam Houston, I wanted to see him." She 
w^ent on to tell how General Houston bowed over her 
hand and called her "lady" in that wonderful magnetic 
voice of his. Yet I could not understand how a woman 
as attractive as that poem pictured Mrs. Houston 
would not be good to look upon. Judge Terrell told 
me while he was writing his last article for the State 
Historical Society on the life of Houston that Margaret 
Lea had a wonderful influence on the "heathenish 
character of Sam," "that many a time he had heard 
General Houston stifle an oath so as not to displease 
her religious sensibilities." 

31 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. SAM HOUSTON 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Margaret Moffiette Lea was born in Marion, Ala., 
April 11, 1810, and was a descendant of one of the 
State's old and cultured families. Her early training 
was given her by her father, and later she entered 
Pleasant Valley Seminary, where she rapidly devel- 
oped remarkable literary ability. That literary streak 
is as plainly developed in the Houston family as the 
prominent jaw and misshapen lip in the Hapsburg 
family. At an earlj^ age Margaret Lea joined the 
Baptist Church, and to the day of her death she was a 
devout member. 

She was visiting in Mobile when she met Sam Hous- 
ton, and her girlish fancy was captured by the ro- 
mantic career of this attractive man. They were 
married at the home of her parents, May 9, 1840. Her 
girlish nature rose to meet the responsibilities of the 
man whose life was virtually dedicated to his State. 

Mrs. Houston was a typical mother of "ye olden 
time," preferring the care of her increasing family and 
the abandon of an interesting book to the stress of so- 
cial life. Yet so true is human nature — the Houston 
children were no better than the average children of 
today. 1 have heard it whispered that the smaller 
children would crawl under the table when the ladies 
of the time were ''spending the day," and embry- 
onic battles would sadly interfere with the digmtied 
conversation of their elders. At one time mischievous 
Andrew actually crawled under the sofa of the man- 
sion parlor and pinned together the skirts of Ellen 
Graham and Mollie Houston, who were fast girlhood 
friends. 

32 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Mrs. Houston, in her quiet way, was very hos- 
pitable, but her failing health was very much in evi- 
dence while her husband was Governor, and she with- 
drew more and more from the gayety that centers as 
naturally around the mansion as the honey bee around 
the clover. William Roger Houston was the only 
Governor's child ever born in the mansion, but many 
years later Mrs. Carpenter, daughter of Governor 
Ireland, gave birth to a son while living with her 
father in the mansion, though the dear little blue-eyed 
baby only lived a little while. One night while Mrs. 
Houston was giving Roger her undivided attention, a 
gay group of young people had gathered in the par- 
lor. In the crowd were the Houston girls, Alice and 
Ellen Graham, whose father and General Houston 
were warm personal friends; Rosine Stern, now Mrs. 
Rosine Ryan of Houston, and Adele Atwood, who was 
soon to become Mrs. August Palm. Frolicsome An- 
drew was telling his father ''he was going to be 
secesh," hoping to arouse an argument with his loyal 
parent, when Adele Atwood diverted attention by 
offering to show the girls how to ''cut the pigeon 
wing," a proceeding as startling in that day and time 
as the turkey trot of today. The entire crowd, includ- 
ing General Houston, were enjoying themselves to the 
uttermost when Mrs. Houston appeared in the door- 
way and put an end to what in her opinion were inde- 
corous proceedings. 

In 1,861, when the people of Texas by vote declared 
themselves out of the Union, Sam Houston, who re- 
mained loyal to the United States Government, could 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



not take the oath of office, so he took his family and 
went to Huntsville to live. His last official act was to 
send a message to the Legislature protesting against 
the injustice they had done him. 

Though so strongly opposed to secession, he gave 
permission for his eldest son to join the Confederate 
Army. He died two years later, and the widowed 
mother took her children to Independence, where Bay- 
lor University was then located, to educate them in the 
Baptist faith. 

When the dread yellow fever epidemic of 1867 broke 
out, Mrs. Houston proved that not all heroes are found 
on the battlefield, for she worked day and night at the 
bedside of the fever-stricken community. Her worn- 
out constitution was an easy victim, so when the dis- 
ease entered her system, it was only a short time till 
she was taken. She died at the age of 48. She is 
buried at Independence. 

Mrs. Houston was in every sense of the word a home- 
maker. She was a devoted and self-sacrificing mother, 
a wife whose deeply religious nature acted as a cog for 
the impetuosity of her brilliant husband. 

Governor and Mrs. Sam Houston had eight children. 
Sam, the oldest, was a physician and married Lucy 
Anderson of Williamson County; Nannie E. married 
J. C. Morrow of Williamson County. Margaret Lea 
married W. L. Williamson of Washington County. Mary 
W. married J. S. Morrow of Abilene. Nettie Powers 
married the late Prof. W. L. Bringhurst of Corsicana, 
and his widow and her family are now living in San An- 
tonio. Andrew Jackson first married Carrie Purnell of 
Austin, and after her death, Elizabeth Good of Dallas. 

35- 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



They now live in Beaumont. William Roger never 
married. Temple married and lived in Oklahoma, 
where he died. To a great extent he must have inher- 
ited the magnetism and the foibles of his wonderful 
father. 

It has been my personal delight to know two of Mrs. 
Houston's children. In them I found the magnetism, 
the wit, the charm, and the eccentricity of their illus- 
trious parents. At one time Nettie Houston Bring- 
hurst, dressed in a pink calico evening gown trimmed 
with narrow white lawn ruffles, electrified an audience 
of 200 clever people in El Paso by an after-banquet 
speech. 

One of my childhood recollections was to curl up on 
the huge sofa in Colonel Neill's library in Austin and 
listen to Temple Houston and Colonel Neill, a close 
friend of General Houston, for whom Andrew was 
named, discuss affairs of State. When Temple got 
very much interested he would pace the floor with 
swinging strides and run his beautifully shaped hand 
through his tawny locks that would be the envy of a 
football hero of today. The memory of his eloquence 
has never been clouded, to my mind, by the cultured 
oratory of the present day. 



36 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MARTHA EVANS 

WIFE OF EDWARD CLARK, 
GOVERNOR FROM 1861 TO 1861. 

The war cloud had gathered. General Houston had 
done all he could to keep Texas in the Union. He re- 
fused to send delegates to the general convention held 
in Montgomery. But Texas had her own convention in 
1861 in Austin. A committee of five was appointed 
to prepare an ordinance giving reasons for seceding. 
The convention adopted it, the people voted on it, and 
Texas had lined up, as she should, shoulder to shoulder 
with the Southern States. In this dread time brother 
was against brother, and lifelong friends became tem- 
porary foes. From a platform erected north of the 
Baptist Church, General Houston turned his battery 
of sarcasm on the then Lieutenant Governor Clark. 
Mrs. Harrell suggested to Mrs. Clark that they should 
return to their homes, but Mrs. Clark sat with flushed 
face and clinched hands and heard the bitter denun- 
ciation to an end. 

On the fourth of March, General Houston had not 
yet signed fealty to the Confederate States, the old 
Capitol was crowded with a breathless, anxious crowd 
waiting to see what he would do. Governor Houston 
did not appear, and Lieutenant Governor Clark stepped 
forth and took the oath of office. That is how politics 
made Martha Melissa Evans a Governor's wife. 

Texas had not yet been annexed when Dr. Evans 
and his family came from Tennessee to Texas. They 

27 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. CLARK 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

made Marshall their home. The kind physician found 
plenty to occupy his hands and heart in the small vil- 
lage, then the most important settlement in North 
Texas. 

Dr. Evans' oldest daughter, Melissa, was just bud- 
ding into attractive womanhood. Lochinvar came in 
the form of the dashing young major of the Mexican 
War, and shortly after the war closed he married Me- 
lissa at the home of her parents in Marshall. Her 
husband successively held the offices of Representative, 
Senator and Secretary of State, and in 1859 was elect- 
ed Lieutenant Governor. 

Lieutenant Governor Clark bought a home in Aus- 
tin about where Twelfth Street and Nueces cross. Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Clark had three boys and one girl. She 
did not understand children, and I have heard the ex- 
pression, ''Four worse youngsters never lived." How- 
ever, a great deal was expected of ''Youngsters" in 
those days. At the time Mrs. Clark was living in the 
mansion, she was a woman of no unusual beauty except 
for her suit of jbeautiful hair, which was always 
brushed back from her smooth, white forehead, and 
teeth that rivaled the pearls in the mouth of the prin- 
cess in the fairy tale. These, with her gentle manners, 
made her a most companionable woman, large, sweet, 
and genuine. 

She was somewhat overshadowed in the feminine 
official life by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Clark. On the 
night of the inaugural ball, some one was congratulat- 
ing the elder Mrs. Clark on her son's accession to the 
- governorship of Texas. She made a low courtesy and 
said : "It is natural to have governors in my family. 

39 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

The dress I have on now was worn at my father's in- 
augural ball in Georgia, later at my husband's inaug- 
ural ball in the same State, and now I am wearing 
it at my son's inaugural ball in Texas." Then she gave 
her head a little toss, ''Oh, no; it is nothing new to 
have governors in our family." 

In 1856, the Baptist Church in Austin had fifteen 
members, and only a very few more when Mrs. Clark 
was at the mansion in 1861. Mrs. Clark was a devout 
member of the Baptist Church, belonging to that 
branch termed ''hard shells." She and Mrs. Joe Har- 
rell, Sr., were devoted friends, and when in the stress of 
those uneasy and unsettled times, Mrs. Clark left her 
own home to take up her residence at the mansion, she 
left a counterpane she was doing for Mrs. Harrell in 
the loom. 

After the Civil War, Governor Clark and his fam- 
ilj^ returned to Marshall, where he and Mrs. Clark 
died. A son, John E. Clark, is still living in Mar- 
shall, and W. J. Evans, a brother of Mrs. Clark, is 
now holding a position in the State Land Office. 



40 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ADELE BARRON 

WIFE OF F. R. LUBBOCK 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1861 TO 1863 

Frank Lubbock and the beautiful Creole girl, Adele 
Barron, were married in New Orleans, February 5, 
1835. The bride was a slip of a girl just past sixteen, 
and Frank Lubbock, a youth who had not reached 
twenty. The little girl bride had the soft voice of the 
far South, and added to this a decided foreign accent, 
for she learned to speak English from her boy lover. 
Her mother, Laura Bringier, was a wealthy planter's 
daughter, and her father, N. A. Barron, Jr., was a 
prominent cotton and sugar dealer. They spoke 
French exclusively in their home. Adele looked like 
her father, who was a Parisian. She had grey eyes 
with shadowy lashes and light brown hair. She was 
a good musician and used her full, rich voice very ef- 
fectively. Her nature was cheerful and light-hearted, 
and with this was the inherent fondness of the Creole 
for gayety; also the wonderful talent of the Creole 
cook, whose marvelous concoctions in the culinary line 
have made her world-famous. 

In May, after they were married, Mr. and Mrs. Lub- 
bock were called to Charleston to the bedside of his 
dying mother. In the stress of sorrow and sickness, 
the beautiful young wife won all hearts by her unaf- 
fected and affable manners. 

In the late summer, while returning to New Or- 
leans, the stage coach was overturned and Mrs. Lub- 

41 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. ADELE BARRON LUBBOCK 



.";.',• -> 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

bock sustained injuries from which she never entirely 
recovered. A few months in those eventful days made 
many business changes, so early in 1836, the happy 
young couple decided to come to Texas. They were 
passengers on the schooner Corollo, and among the 
thirty passengers was John W. Dancy, who was to take 
an active part in early Texas history. They landed in 
Quintana after a stormy voyage in 1836. Mr. and 
Mrs. Lubbock lived in one of the first clapboard shan- 
ties ever built in Houston. Lumber in those days was 
sawed by hand, and cost $150 per thousand feet. At 
that time the bed they slept on was made by driving 
forked sticks in the ground and laying poles across. 
Clapboards were used for slats to support the mat- 
tress. A gray moss mattress on this sufficed until 
their furniture arrived from New Orleans. 

Adele Lubbock was one of the belles at the first 
San Jacinto ball given in Houston in 1837, dancing in 
the same set with General Houston. An interesting 
description of that ball, copied from 'The Ladies' Mes- 
senger," was published in the "Lubbock Memoirs." 

While Mr. Lubbock was electioneering for the office 
of Lieutenant Governor in 1857, Mrs. Lubbock, who 
was traveling from place to place with him, was taken 
very ill. The physician, at whose home they were for- 
tunately stopping, forbade her to travel further. She 
took some medicine and retired. About midnight she 
awoke and seemed much better. She urged her hus- 
band to go on to the next place, notwithstanding the 
rough roads. This he did, saying long afterward : "I 
had in truth and in fact a helpmate, God bless her." 

43 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 








o 

<: 

PQ 

CO 

S c 

HH O 

o w 






o 
o 

0) 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



The time spent at the ranch farm, six miles from 
Houston on Sims' Bayou, which Mr. Lubbock bought 
for seventy-five cents an acre, was splendid training 
for her eventful life. In the early '50s a craze swept 
over Texas for fancy poultry raising. The Lubbocks 
invested heavily in Asiatic stock, but even then, Mr. 
Lubbock was too much of a politician and Mrs. Lub- 
bock too hospitable a hostess to make money out of 
chickens and eggs that it was so easy to give away. 
Then they tried camel raising, with but little more 
success. In this home Mrs. Adele Looscan, of Hous- 
ton, often visited as a child, and even then she noticed 
the methodical exactitude of Mrs. Lubbock's house- 
hold. Every detail was carried out in such a way that 
there never seemed a jar in the household machinery. 
Mrs. Looscan says : "How well I remember the young 
negro girls busy at work polishing brass door knobs 
and the brass balls on which Mrs. Lubbock's bedstead 
rested, one or two of the women engaged in the sim- 
plest of needlework hemming towels or sheets, some- 
times with a half-grown one taking lessons in over- 
casting; all under the eye and directions of the mis- 
tress of the household." Mrs. Lubbock was very fond 
of children, and made this home particularly pleasant 
to them. In this country home were many guests, but 
scarcely a week went by without some child forming 
part of the happy family. 

In 1861, when the result of the gubernatorial election 
reached Mr. and Mrs. Lubbock, they were together in 
Bastrop. They started at once for Austin over the 
well traveled road, following the windings of the Col- 

45 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




GOVERNOR AND MRS. ADELE BARRON LUBBOCK 



TEXAS GOV ERNORS' WIVES 



orado valley with the misty hills in the distance. When 
they reached Austin, they went at once to the execu- 
tive mansion. They brought four servants with them, 
two well-trained girls for housework and two men to 
care for the horses. 

The mansion was then the finest residence in Aus- 
tin, excepting Governor Pease's home and the resi- 
dence of Mrs. J. H. Raymond, and it was the first 
and last executive residence built by the State. The 
President's house, on the east side of the avenue, where 
St. Mary's Academy now stands, was the work of the 
republic. 

Of those times in Austin Governor Lubbock wrote: 

'*At an early day we had a 'levee' for the Legisla- 
ture, and all the citizens were invited. It was a jam, 
and everything was served in profusion. We never 
dined alone, invariably having from two to a dozen 
members with us, so that during the session every 
Senator and Representative had been at our table once 
or oftener. Although we were then in war, provisions 
were plentiful and cheap, as was horse feed. I may 
mention, for instance, that turkeys that winter could 
be had for fifty cents each, and barley, most excellent 
horse feed, for twenty to twenty-five cents per bushel." 

It seems beaux were the scarcest commodity, for, as 
a rule, only cripples and old men were at home to 
play the gallant to the charming girls. 

In the summer of 1862, Mrs. Looscan, her oldest 
daughter, and the school girl Adele, came overland to 
Austin to visit Mrs. Lubbock at the mansion. The ter- 
rible drought had made a scarcity of edibles in the 

47 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

neighborhood, but the painstaking chatelaine of the 
mansion bought fowls and vegetables from the moun- 
taineers some twenty miles away, striving in every 
way possible to provide as bountiful a table as she 
deemed necessary for the Governor's friends. 

Adele Barron Lubbock was a staunch Roman Cath- 
olic, and without pushing her views on anyone, was 
loyal to her faith. Her beautiful character had at- 
tracted the admiration of many, and it is said more 
girl babies of the period were named for her than 
for any other woman ever in Texas. Mrs. Steiner was 
a warm friend, and Adele Steiner Burleson cemented 
the friendship. Whether these baby Adeles appreciated 
the beauty of the character for whom they were named, 
or whether Mrs. Lubbock's friends were above the 
average in personality, be it said to the credit of all 
that each baby girl has grown into magnificent woman- 
hood, and has so beautifully fulfilled her mission in 
life that the babeless godmother must look down with 
infinite love and feel that she did not live in vain. 

Mrs. Adele Looscan, of Houston, whose mother was 
like a sister to the young Creole bride, was the first 
child in Texas named for Adele Barron Lubbock. Mrs. 
Adele Looscan in that graceful style of hers, wrote 
to me: 

"A more lovely Christian woman never graced a 
home, and none of a higher ideal of conjugal fidelity 
ever lived. She would no doubt have considered her- 
self guilty of an unpardonable sin had she not been 
at home when her husband came from his business. 
One feature of Mrs. Lubbock's character was her dis- 

48 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

position to find excuse for faulty conduct. She would 
never blame a person from hearsay, and even where 
proof was strong of guilt her generous nature sought 
for the reason in hereditary influence, for which the 
offender plainly was not responsible." 

Judge Terrell was an ardent admirer of Mrs. Adele 
Barron Lubbock as a woman, as a hostess, and as a 
wife. He once said to me : 

"I do not see how Frank could ever be satisfied to 
marry another woman, after living for nearly fifty 
years with Adele Lubbock." 

Thus did the little Creole girl from New Orleans in- 
tertwine her life and her personality with the history 
of Texas, and with the characters of the people with 
whom she came in contact; a life and a personality 
that formed a general fascination for all who knew 
her. 



49 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



SUSIE ELLEN TAYLOE 

WIPE OP PENDLETON MURRAH 
GOVERNOR FROM 1863 TO 1865 

In tragic life, God wot 
No villain need be: 
Passions spin the plot. 

— George Meredith. 

About the time George Meredith was writing his 
great poem, "Modern Love," in England, almost the 
identical plot was being re-enacted by the husband and 
wife whose lives are so tragically intertwined in this bi- 
ographj^ In Meredith's great sonnet sequence the 
story begins with wedded life. The tragedy of Mrs. 
Hurrah's life began on her wedding night. 

Guests had come from far and near. The old coun- 
try home near Marshall, Texas, was a blaze of light. 
Happy couples were promenading, and their shadows 
cast fantastic silhouettes on the broad galleries where 
rifts of light showed the white teeth and shining eyes 
of the curious negro slaves, as they watched the 
''white folks' doin's." Over and above all was the 
penetrating odor of the honeysuckle and the climbing 
roses, for the late Indian summer had not yet given 
way to the frosts of the winter. It was the evening of 
October the sixth, in eighteen hundred and fifty. All 
was light and love and laughter, for on this night the 
fair young daughter of the house was to wed Pendle- 
ton Murrah, the clever young lawyer. 

50 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



The last notes of the fiddles had died on the air. 
The tired guests were being shown to their various 
rooms. The carriages had long since disappeared down 
the shadowy driveway, but the mellow laugh of some 
frolicsome beau was now and then borne over the 
inight air, mingled with the distant trills of the mock- 
ing birds. Old Parson Job Taylor had dropped off to 
sleep while chuckling over the unusually large fee 
that the young groom had slipped in his open palm. 
The girlish bride had long since gone to her room, worn 
out with the frolicsome dances of the night, followed 
by a giggling set of girlhood friends. At last, alone, 
she awaits the young husband who does not come. The 
lights are all out, but in the parlor, lighted only by 
the silvery moonbeams, sits the impatient groom — 
alone, forgotten. Whether it was one of those terrible 
practical jokes that sometimes mar a life, or whether 
in the confusion of the late hour and the departing 
guests it was an oversight, I could not learn. Only 
this, Pendleton Murrah beneath his calm exterior, had 
a terrible temper and a sensitive pride which never for- 
gave the seeming neglect. Twice he started to mount 
his horse and ride away; instead, he waited with a 
white, set face, and in the morning took his bride away. 
The tender lover was a stern, dignified husband, and to 
the end, ''Each sucked a secret, and each wore n 
mask." 

How do I know this? Probably none of us would 
ever have known it, for Mrs. Murrah did not wear 
her heart on her sleeve. She was gay, lovable and 
attractive. Mrs. Joe Steiner was her intimate friend, 
a sufficient guarantee of a beautiful character. Mrs.. 

51 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Murrah graced the mansion entertainments, and did all 
in her power to make Governor Hurrah's regime a suc- 
cessful one. One cold winter night, when the drizzling 
sleet was wrapping Austin in its coarse mantle, a cry oi 
"Fire, Fire," rang out on the midnight air ; the mansior. 
was on fire. A huge log had rolled from the fireplace in 
the library and fallen between the sunken bricks. When 
discovered the room was in flames. Mrs. Murrah w£s 
quite sick at the time. Governor Murrah wrapped a 
quilt around her, and took her out the back door, carried 
her across the street and laid her on Mrs. HarrelFs bed. 
Here the dainty, pretty little woman moaned, after 
her husband went back to the mansion. **He called 
me, 'My dear.' " In her weak, nervous condition the 
seal came from her lips, and the heart-hungry wife told 
the young mother with her babe at the breast the story 
I have told you. 

Susie Ellen Taylor was born in Pendleton, South 
Carolina. She inherited a great deal of the pride that 
belongs to the native South Carolinian. 

Living with them in the mansion was the beautiful 
niece of Governor Murrah, and a nephew, not her 
brother. Miss Murrah, with the passion for attention 
that some attractive women have, gave her cousin 
every encouragement, but when he proposed marriage, 
she tossed her curly head and laughed at him. That 
night he stayed out later than usual. The household 
was awakened by a pistol shot. The poor fellow's 
body was thrown across the bed of the little north 
room, and the blood-spattered wall told the story. 
Many ghost-stories are connected with the mansion, 

52 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

and they all cluster around the little room whose boy- 
ish occupant had rather die than live to lose his first 
and only love. 

Those were dark days in Austin. Cruel war was be- 
ginning to make itself felt even this far south. The 
Confederacy had struggled against fearful odds and 
lost. Lee surrendered in April ; General Kirby Smith, 
for Texas, one month later. Hard times, lawlessness, 
lack of heart, made Pendleton Murrah give up the 
fight his position required. Leaving behind the 
woman who was his wife in name only, he fled to 
Mexico, where in a few months he died. 

Left alone, Mrs. Murrah went back to Marshall, leav- 
ing the mansion in the care of Uncle Jake and Aunt 
Malvina Fontaine. Melissa Fontaine, now Melissa Gor- 
don, was about sixteen years of age. She and Mrs. 
Murrah's house girl wanted to sleep in the mansion 
"just like white folks," but Melissa, who has lived to 
have many friends among the white people on account 
of her sterling qualities, confessed *'We couldn't sleep 
much 'cause we could hear the moans across the hall, 
and we couldn't forget the said, beautiful face of po' 
Miss Susie when she told us good-bye." 



53 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. HAMILTON 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MAEY JANE BOWEN 

WIFE OF A. J. HAMILTON 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1865 TO 1866 

Mary Jane Bowen was born in South Carolina, in 
August of 1826. She moved with her parents to Mis- 
sissippi and then to Alabama while yet a child. At 
Weldona, Ala., Judge John David Bowen took as 
law partner a young and talented man, A. J. Hamilton. 
What was more natural for the young law partner 
than to fall in love and to marry the attractive Mary 
Jane? They were married September 3, 1843. 

The young couple came to Texas and lived tw^o 
years at La Grange, but in the spring of 1849, they 
came to Austin. Their first home in Austin was a 
double log cabin. Part of that old house is still in- 
corporated in the Baron homestead, and is standing 
at 301 East Fifth Street. A celebrated old Scotch 
character, Mrs. Grumbles, lived next door. In 1853 
Colonel Hamilton bought the old Webb place, one and 
one-half miles southeast from the present capitol. 
This house was a mansion in its day. It was built by 
Colonel Webb's slaves and superintended by the owner. 
The only other house between that and Austin was 
the former home of the French ambassador, M. Salig- 
ny, but later bought by Dr. Robertson, whose daughter. 
Miss Lillie, still lives in this interesting place. 

The Webb place, where the Hamiltons lived so long, 
is well worth a description. The entire front consisted 
of two huge rooms opening into each other. Back 

55 



I 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. JOHN L. HAYNES 
The "Chum" of Mrs. Hamilton 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

of this was the 25-foot square dining-room, where 
many a merry feast was held. On either side of and 
opening into the dining-room were two wings, where 
the bed-rooms were located. The roof was gabled and 
a large gallery extended across the entire front of the 
house. The blinds were solid with loop holes through 
which to fire at the Indians when besieged. As was 
the custom in those days, the kitchen was some dis- 
tance from the house, but so nimble-footed were the 
servants that the waffles were always hot and the 
amber-colored coffee was always steaming. This place 
was situated in a stately grove of live oaks surrounded 
by a 200-acre farm. 

It was here, in the days that tried men's souls, that 
many of the Northern army officers loved to linger, 
cheered by the hospitality of the home and entertained 
by the winsome daughters of the house, whose per- 
sonal charm and beauty are well known to the older 
social world of Austin. One memorable night a happy 
house party was snowbound, an unusual thing for 
Austin. In the crowd were Miss Joe Atwood, later 
Mrs. Durst; Eliza Chalmers, the famous belle; petite 
Mary Smith, now Mrs. Mary Mitchell; the brilliant 
Bettie Lindsey, and Mary and Bettie Hamilton, pos- 
sessed with rare intellectuality. The beaux of the 
party were General Harney, Col. Scott Anderson, Col. 
Wood, Col. Hord, Frank Hamilton, and one or two 
others. Col. Hamilton flatly refused to permit the 
men to take the girls to a ball to which they were all 
going, so the fun ran high until late bed time. Mrs. 
Hamilton made beds in the parlor for the men. They 

57 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




1 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

insisted that Col. Hamilton join them. Then for an 
hour or two they amused themselves writing a poem, 
which is still extant, pitying Col. Wood because he 
could not take Miss Chalmers to the ball. They told 
how he came through the snow in the Government 
ambulance drawn by four white mules with outriders 
— called it a coach drawn by four white rabbits — and 
each stanza wound up with the refrain, '*0h, Wood, 
Oh, Wood, why did you do it?" 

Not very long ago someone was commenting on the 
brilliant women who were at that time girls, and Mrs. 
Laura P. Duval said: 

'That generation of clever women owed it to their 
association with brilliant men, whose bright minds 
stimulated their own to steady growth; such men as 
generaUy form the nucleus of a new country — soldiers 
of fortune, army officers, civil engineers, young law- 
yers and ambitious politicians." 

At that time Amelia Barr, the famous novelist, was 
living in Austin, and to eke out her slender income, 
and help her invalid husband and her five children, 
Mary, Lillie, Alice, Calvin, and Alexander, she taught 
a select school. Fortunate, indeed, were her pupils. 
Mrs. Mills, then Mary Hamilton, told me : "Mrs. Barr 
laid the foundation for reading that I shall never cease 
to be grateful for. She taught us history, biography 
and along with our geography the folklore of nations." 
Mrs. Barr is yet held in high esteem by her pupils of 
that day, among whom were Mollie Peck, now Mrs. 
James Hart; Mary Hamilton, who later married W. 
W. Mills, who was for many years consul to Mexico; 

59 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. E. B. TURNER 

The Grandmother of Mrs. David Houston of Washington, D. C, 

and a Warm Personal Friend of Mrs. Hamilton 

and Mrs. Haynes 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Bettie Elgin, Mrs. Gilmer of Waco, Jennie Coen of 
Austin, Jodie Eastland, wife of General Johnston of 
Marble Falls, and mother of Mrs. Badger of Austin; 
Kate Stone, Mrs. Boyce, and Sarah Sawyer, now Mrs. 
Stone, both of Austin. 

Mary Jane Hamilton inherited the splendid execu- 
tive ability of her lawyer father. It was she who saw 
to the management of the farm, making her home an 
ideal rendezvous, loved by husband and children and 
admired by all who knew her. Mrs. Hamilton is a 
woman of wonderful courage and determination. In 
the terrible days when her husband was a prisoner of 
war, when a price was on his head, she made the 
home as happy for the little children as later she made 
the mansion glad to the home-sick Northern people 
whose interests were cast with ours in those trying 
days. Mrs. Hamilton, at the time I write, is a tall, 
striking looking woman with a wealth of dark hair 
surrounding a face whose sparkling dark eyes are the 
most attractive feature. She is a woman who dresses 
well, preferring fine materials to showy display. 

Her regime in the mansion was a happy one, not- 
withstanding the troublesome times. Governor and 
Mrs. Hamilton kept five servants, and were ready at 
any time to welcome the stranger to their board. The 
levees of those days were rather formal and a little 
strained whenever the Northern and Southern element 
mixed. However, Mrs. Hamilton, with a world of 
tact, did much to overcome this bitter feeling. Among 
her intimate friends who helped to form the social 
life of the time were Mesdames E. B. Turner, John L. 
Haynes, Thomas Duval, Ed DeNormandie, E. M. Pease, 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Blocker, Swisher, and J. H. Raymond. Besides these 
women and their husbands, General and Mrs. Custer, 
who were at the Blind Institute, and the brilliant 
Judge Lindsey, all helped to make a gay coterie that 
added to the life of the mansion. Many a night Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Hamilton danced the Virginia reel in 
the colonial hall with all of their children in the same 
set, besides outside guests. At other times they en- 
gaged in the "scientific game of euchre" or lingered 
over a prolonged game of old-fashioned whist. 

When Mrs. Hamilton went into the mansion the 
bloodstains were yet on the walls of the ''haunted 
room." Liza, an old family servant, refused to go 
down the back stairs. Mrs. Hamilton in her dignified 
way called Liza and said : 

''Liza, you have too much sense to act in this way. 
Surely you are not afraid of the dead. It is only the 
living who can harm you." 

"No, Miss Mary, I'se not zactly afraid, but I has 
peculiarsome feeling down my backbone, and get cold 
in my stumick, whenever I go by that room." 

The gruesomeness of that chamber extended its in- 
fluence, for Mrs. Mills declared that often while she 
and a girl friend were chatting over the dying fire, 
the door knob would turn, then in a few seconds the 
door would open as if an unseen hand would try and 
then open the door. Considering the cold drafts that 
even now make us shiver in those huge unheated halls, 
it is quite easy for the unsuperstitious to find reliable 
causes for uncanny doings. 

Bettie Hamilton, now Mrs. Woodburn, went off to 

62 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

college from the mansion under the chaperonage of 
Governor Pease, who was taking his daughter Carrie 
east at the same time. 

As the wife of a Provisional Governor of Texas, the 
life of Mrs. Hamilton had many a tempestuous day, 
but with a wisdom far beyond her years, and with the 
advice of her husband, who was ever loyal to his con- 
victions, her administration in the mansion was a 
happy one. So strong is her personality that many 
friends of that time are the friends of today, while 
many who knew and loved her then have crossed the 
bar, for Mrs. Hamilton has exceeded the three score 
and ten that is our earthly allotment. Now at 86, she 
is like some graceful ship that has borne the brunt 
of many a trip but is lying calmly at anchor. She is 
living with her daughters, Mrs. Lillie Maloney and Mrs. 
Mills, at 406 West Fifth Street. In full possession of all 
of her faculties, she is often seen driving in her buggy 
on the streets of our capital city, a remarkable exam- 
ple of a splendid old age. Surrounded by her children, 
her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, she 
is loved and revered by a host of friends, both of the 
old and of the new generation. 



63 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




c 
< = 

W ca 
H 

O "^ 

O -if 



o 



O K 

>• ^ 

a> - 

m ^ 

w I 

K re 

2 

W S 

K o 

to 

w ■:: 

H .2 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ANNIE RATTAN 

WIFE OF JAMES W. THROCKMORTON 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1866 TO 1867 

If there was a woman in Texas who helped to make 
history, who bore every sacrifice uncomplainingly, who 
was steadfast at a time when it took heroic courage 
to be faithful, it was Annie Rattan Throckmorton. 
While Governor Throckmorton, beloved by all, was in 
the forefront of Texas politics, this wonderful wife, 
the mother of ten children, remained at home. Her 
nature was so full of love and faith and loyalty that 
her life was one long day of sacrifice; yet so brave 
and womanly was this faithful wife that she bore 
everything with the most wonderful courage and pa- 
tience. 

Annie Rattan was born at Carrollton, Illinois, March 
5, 1828. She was the daughter of Thomas Rattan and 
and Gillian Hill Rattan. Her parents, soon after their 
marriage, moved from Georgia to Illinois. Her mother 
was a near relative to Georgia's famous statesman, Ben 
Hill. On her father's side she was descended from 
Nathaniel Green of Revolutionary fame. With the 
blood of such ancestry in her veins, it is no wonder she 
stood the pioneer days of Texas as she did. 

Annie Rattan received a fairly good education for 
the day and time at Carrolton, her birthplace. But, 
better still, her education went on with the years. She 
was a broad and interested reader of newspapers and 
magazines which, while few in numbers, in those days 

65 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. THROCKMORTON 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

were as carefully read and kept as our de luxe editions 
of today. She was married March 19, 1847, at the age 
of nineteen, to a distant relative, James W. Throck- 
morton, who had been living in Texas since his boyhood. 
They came to Texas as soon as married, making the 
trip, along with an older sister's family and some 
friends, in wagons. They located in Collin County on 
what is now known as the old Dysart place, and built 
their little log cabin as most settlers did. Her husband 
was a young physician, and, since the country was so 
thinly settled, very often when he made a professional 
call, he would be gone several days. Imagine how a 
young wife would suffer. She was the youngest of a 
family of sixteen and came from a well-populated town. 
She was desperately afraid, not only of the wild ani- 
mals, but of the Indians, who were constantly visiting 
and moving about. 

Very soon. Dr. Throckmorton built a room at her 
sister's, which was some distance away, and Mrs. 
Throckmorton stayed there until after the birth of 
her first child, after which she went back to their lit- 
tle log cabin, to remain there. 

A picture comes to me of that time. Standing in 
the little door is a tall, strikingly handsome woman 
in the freshness of young motherhood. The morning 
sun lights up the red gold of her hair, which had the 
sheen that comes on ripened wheat. Her clear, deep 
blue eyes are resting on a little babe in its cradle. The 
color slowly fades from her pink and white complex- 
ion, for in the distance coming toward her is a tribe 
of Indians, dressed in all the gaudy finery of beads 

67 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



and buckskin. True, she knew that Dr. Throckmor- 
ton was a loyal and honored friend of these Indians, 
but it took a brave heart indeed to stand there while 
the chief, a giant in statue, with feathers of his fan- 
tastic head-dress trailing on the ground, bent over 
her baby, took him up, and played with him. How her 
girlish blood ran cold, and how she suffered, God only 
can tell; for her husband was away, and the In- 
dians knew it. Still she stood there with the halo 
around her head and smiled at the old chief. She 
dared not offend him in any way. Years afterward she 
said of that episode: "I thought I should die of fear 
and loathing, yet for the sake of peace it must be en- 
dured." The thought of that savage in his barbaric 
dress — the little cooing baby — the palefaced young 
mother wearing the smile of courage with her heart 
and brain of fire, would make a model for a statue of a 
"Pioneer Mother," and yet cold marble could never do 
it justice even though the hand that wielded the chisel 
had the touch of Angelo himself. 

Another incident that shows the tender heart and 
natural motherhood of Annie Rattan Throckmorton 
is this : If the physician husband had a case that re- 
quired a long and tedious treatment, he brought it 
home with him ; because of the distances, he could not 
go and come so often. A little girl ten years of age, 
almost blind with an eye trouble, was brought home to 
be treated. At first she had to be in bed in a dark 
room, but she was nursed and ministered to by Mrs. 
Throckmorton, and was soon much better. After a 
month or two her parents came for her, and to their 

6S 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

surprise she refused to leave. She clung to Mrs. 
Throckmorton, with her arms around her neck, sob- 
bing and almost screaming. The parents were amazed 
and hurt, but took her home. She grieved and cried 
so to go back to Mrs. Throckmorton that her eyes grew 
worse, and she had to be brought again for treatment. 
She remained almost a year in the Throckmorton 
home, and it was only through this fine woman's loving- 
counsel and persuasion that she consented to go home 
at all. Yet her parents were kind and had a comfort- 
able home. 

At one time Mrs. Throckmorton's limited reading 
matter stood her in good stead. In the absence of 
other reading matter she read her husband's medical 
books until she became possessed of a keen knowledge 
of such things that were of vast assistance in rearing 
a large family. This is but another example of her 
nerve and poise under a trying ordeal. A little son 
jumped on a broken -off broom weed which went to the 
middle of the bottom of his foot and broke off, the 
wound closing over it. He was almost in convulsions 
when brought to his mother. She asked the negro 
man who had him in his arms if he could hold him; 
for after examining it, she found her boy in a serious 
condition and knew she must not wait for a physician. 
She got down a case of old medical instruments of 
her husband's, cut the foot open, removed the stick, 
and bound up the wqund. She then sent for a doctor, 
who told her it was only her prompt act that had saved 
her child from lockjaw. 

Mrs. Throckmorton spent every spare moment 

69 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



reading that she might be well informed on the topics 
of the day, and be able to discuss them with the hus- 
band she idolized. It is a sad picture, her struggles 
to keep pace with the times that she might be as in- 
teresting to him when he came home as were the 
brilliant women of the social world in the gay capital 
at Austin. She even read dull Congressional Records 
while her husband was in Congress so as to write in- 
telligently to him on the questions that were absorb- 
ing his mind. Her daughter Florence asked her one 
day, "Mother, how can you read that stupid thing?" 
She said, ''I began it as a duty ; now I find it necessary 
and really enjoy it." Thus it was; her pleasure and 
interest were always bound up in the things that 
were dearest to her husband. That he appreciated her 
beauty and worth is shown by the following story : 

While at a large reception in Washington, Governor 
Throckmorton and colleagues were watching the inter- 
esting throng. The beauty of the evening went by. 
The friend said, ''Is she not the most beautiful v/oman 
you ever saw?" Governor Throckmorton said ''No, 
indeed, I was just thinking of a more beautiful one — 
my wife." 

Mrs. Throckmorton lived to be quite old, dying in 
her home at McKinney, Collin County, Texas, October 
30, 1895, outliving Governor Throckmorton two years. 

This wonderful woman in youth was considered 
high-strung, but the hardships of pioneer days, the 
stress of raising to manhood and womanhood four 
boys and six girls, brought her to a mild and patient 
old age. 



70 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

In a way, Mrs. Throckmorton was like the woman 
who lived in the shoe; besides her own large family, 
she raised a nephew of Governor Throckmorton's tak- 
ing him at five years of age. Her husband's only 
sister lived with them five years, and two of his 
nieces virtually made it their home; besides a niece 
of Mrs. Throckmorton spent most of her girlhood in 
this hospitable home. 

Annie Throckmorton's disposition was even and 
lovely — if anything, too utterly unselfish and self-sac- 
rificing. She was religious without being fanatical, 
living rather than talking her religion. She never 
wore any jewelry save her brooch and wedding ring. 
She never entered into any public work. How could 
she? She never lived in the mansion. In fact her 
whole life was but the background for her successful 
husband's career; greater love hath no woman. 

The four surviving children of Governor and Mrs. 
Throckmorton are Mrs. J. A. Barnett of San Antonio, 
Mrs. Zack Shirley and Mrs. R. W. Bennett of Aus- 
tin, and James W. Throckmorton of Channing, Texas. 



71 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ANN ELIZABETH BRTTTON 

WIFE OF E. J. DAVIS 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1870 TO 1874 

Living quietly in her home at 1437 Rhode Island 
Avenue, Washington, D. C, is Mrs. A. E. D. Smith, 
the subject of this sketcK. While still retaining much 
of the vigor and magnetism of her youth, one can 
scarcely realize that this placid-browed, dark-eyed 
woman was at one time in the midst of the bitterest 
of the feeling which overspread Texas at the period 
when she was the mistress of the mansion. 

Ann Elizabeth Britton was born April 9, 1838. 
She was educated at the Visitation Convent in Bal- 
timore. Her father. Captain Forbes Britton, settled 
in Corpus Christi after the Mexican War, where he 
served under Generals Scott and Taylor. It was 
here, in 1858, that Ann Elizabeth Britton was mar- 
ried to Judge E. J. Davis, a lawyer at Browns- 
ville, Texas, who was District Judge at that time 
for the lower Rio Grande Valley. The couple made 
the border town their home until the Civil War 
broke out. Needless to say, even at this time any man 
who remained loyal to the Union and lived in Texas 
had a hard time. Judge Davis went to New Orleans 
and raised a regiment among the Northern refugees in 
that historic old town. For bravery in service he was 
promoted to be a Brigadier General. 

Mrs. Davis was a Southerner, born and bred. Her 
twin brother fought beside other relatives in the Con- 

72 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



federate Army, but she was loyal to her husband. "As 
long as my husband chose the Northern side/' she 
subsequently wrote me, "I was for him first and last, 
right or wrong." 

General Davis was captured by the Confederates at 
Matamoras. His companion in arms. Captain Mont- 
gomery, was hung near Brownsville ; his head was cut 
off, tied up in a cloth and sent to the interior of the 
State as a warning to show the Union people what 
would happen when they were captured. 

The horrors of warfare certainly had their impres- 
sion on Mrs. Davis. She wrote me long afterwards: 
''Mr. Montgomery was talking to me when the Con- 
federates came and took him prisoner at the Com- 
mandant's house at Bagdad, across the river. He 
came there to see where my husband was just after 
he had been taken from the house." Mr. Montgomery's 
cruel death made a deep impression on the young 
wife. Through the influence of the United States 
consul, Mr. Pierce, and the Mexican authorities in 
Matamoras, where General Davis was captured, at 
Bagdad, his life was spared. 

Mrs. Davis did not struggle to conciliate the popular 
prejudice; rather did she seem to delight in creating 
criticism. Yet she had strong friends, for she was at- 
tractive by nature and charming in her personality. 
She was especially kind to the young Northern preach- 
er, Dr. E. B. Wright, who had cast his lot with ours. 
In those days anyone who came from north of Mason 
and Dixon's line was a "Carpetbagger" or "scalawag." 
The latter epithet, if possible, was a little more signifi- 

73 



i 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. DAVIS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

cant of things left unsaid. Think of such opprobious 
names being hurled at the man who has long since 
become loved by all parties and all creeds! 

Living in the mansion with the Davis family was 
Miss Mary Goodwin Hall, the niece of Governor Da- 
vis. She was the first bride of the historic old man- 
sion. This wedding took place on the last day of Jan- 
uary in 1872, and Mary Goodwin Hall became the wife 
of George T. Sampson, thus founding one of Austin's 
most prominent families. The ceremony was perform- 
ed by Dr. Porter of the Presbyterian Church, the prede- 
cessors of Dr. Smoot. The beautiful young bride was 
dressed in a ''going away" gown of brown silk. The 
young couple stood between the folding doors of the 
double parlors, and after the ceremony, took a wedding 
trip to New York, a trip of much more importance then 
than now. Texas at that time had only one thousand 
and seventy-eight miles of railroad in actual operation. 

I havte been told, and by no less an authority than 
our beloved Dr. E. B. Wright, that when General 
Grant refused to order out troops to support the gov- 
ernment of Texas as vested in Governor Davis, his 
wife with snapping eyes and imperious manner or- 
dered an old negro at the mansion to 'Take that pic- 
ture down,'' referring to a picture of General Grant, 
which occupied a place of honor in the hall. The old 
negro looked upon that as sacrilege, so he sputtered: 
"Lawd, missie, I ca-cyant." In her impulsive way, 
Mrs. Davis got up on a chair and jerked the picture 
down, then deliberately ground the heel of her French 

75 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



slipper through it. This tradition, however, Mrs. Da- 
vis now declares to be without foundation. 

• While impetuous and high-strung, Mrs. Davis had 
a heart of pure gold. Just after her husband's death 
she left her beautiful home in the Tenth Ward, and in 
company with her young cousin, Bessie Millard, who 
is now Mrs. Tarlton of Hillsboro, was boarding at 
Mrs. McGowan's. One day Mrs. Davis found Lillie, 
the pretty young daughter of the house, in tears be- 
cause she could not finish the dishes in time for the 
matinee. Mrs. Davis said: ''Hush crying, child; go 
to the matinee, I'll do the dishes." She rolled up her 
sleeves and washed the dishes, other ladies offering to 
help her dry them when the situation was explained. 
Mrs. R. C. Walker, of Austin, one of these ladies, a 
true daughter of the South, told me she never spent 
a more pleasant hour in her life. Mrs. Davis was 
really an intellectual woman, and when she set out to 
do the entertaining, her audience was charmed. 

Another incident of that time shows Mrs. Davis at 
her very best. In March of 1872 there came a tall 
beautiful girl, Jessie Davidson Rhea, to visit Austin. 
Mrs. Davis took a great fancy to her and entertained 
her frequently. She often loaned Jessie her fine 
saddle-horse as a special mark of favor. While in 
Austin, Jessi^Rhea met, loved, and married the hand- 
some William Earle Evans, who is a cousin of "Fight- 
ing Bob." Mr. Evans was a clerk in the Adjutant 
General's department. The position of Adjutant Gen- 
eral was then held by Frank Britton, a nephew of 
Mrs. E. J. Davis. 



76 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

The young couple set up housekeeping in a log house 
back of Dr. Lytton's where Mrs. Ed Bowen's home 
now is. This log cabin was a big old-time house with 
four large rooms and a big central hall. The walls 
were heavily plastered, cool in summer, warm in win- 
ter. A year had passed. Mrs. Davis was with her 
young friend. The Governor came over once or twice 
to see if she was ready to go home. There were no 
trained nurses or telephones in those days. 

About 3 o'clock in the morning he stood in the door- 
way and Mrs. Davis smilingly said, ''It is a baby girl, 
and I am ready now to go home." This dainty girl 
baby was Eulah Stanley Evans, now the wife of Dr. 
Seth Mabry Morris, of Galveston. 

Of the living sons of Governor and Mrs. Davis, one 
graduated at West Point, and served four years in 
the army, but quit military life to go in the copper 
mining business in Mexico, where he is rapidly ac- 
quiring great wealth. Winters Davis, the other son, 
is a law partner with Judge James Goggin in El Paso. 
They have one of the finest practices in Southwest 
Texas. 



77 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. COKE 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MARY HOENE 

WIFE OF RICHARD COKE 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1874 TO 1876 

"Those were terrible times." These identical words 
were spoken to me on different occasions of this par- 
ticular period by Mrs. Mary Mitchell, Mrs. L. J. 
Storey, and the late Judge A. W. Terrell. The negro 
troops of Governor Davis were parading in the streets 
of Austin, and a squad was in the basement of the old 
capitol, while the Travis Rifles were stationed in the 
Capitol grounds, and white soldiers paced the main 
floor of the Capitol. Governor Davis was in his pri- 
vate office. Coke was in the Hall of Representatives 
awaiting the result. There was not a man in Austin 
who was not armed, and some men had small arsenals 
in their offices or stores, ready to be brought forth at 
a moment's notice should the emergency arise. 

Col. Ed Gurlee, of Waco, an ardent supporter of 
Coke, was with his relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell. 
Mrs. Mitchell wanted to send the colored boy, Andy 
George, who later was a favored servant, and remem- 
bered in the will of Judge Terrell, on an errand. With 
the whites of his eyes rolled up, he begged to stay at 
home, saying: 

"They will give me a gun and make me fight." 

General Hardeman sent word to Governor Davis: 
"Let a negro fire a gun, and the next shot will not be 
at them, but aimed directly at your heart." 

Cool, calm men did not know what the next hour 

79 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

would bring forth. The telegram came from Gen- 
eral Grant to Governor Davis: "Vacate. The Dem- 
ocrats are in power. We have had enough bloodshed." 
Then it was that Col. Ed Gurlee said with a sigh of 
relief: '*I never thought the time would come when 
I would admire General Grant, but I do now/' and 
other loyal Texans agreed heartily with his sentiments. 

It was then, in the bitterness of defeat, that Mrs. 
Davis jerked Grant's picture from the wall and 
stamped on it. 

Amid such scenes was born the Coke administration, 
and there entered the mansion a woman very different 
from her predecessor. Mrs. Coke was always a frail 
woman. Most of the time during which she was the 
first lady of Texas, she was a confirmed invalid, yet 
she tried in her gentle way to do her duty by her hus- 
band and her friends. She did not care for society 
nor the duties attendant thereupon, but her soft gaye- 
ties and human sympathies drew around her a coterie 
of most pleasant people. 

A wedding which has been overlooked in the past in 
writeups of 'The Mansion Weddings," was that of 
the widowed cousin of Governor Coke — a Mrs. Hook, 
who had lived with them at the mansion. This charm- 
ing widow was married here to Gen. Jerome Robert- 
son while her kinsman was Texas' chief executive. 
Mrs. Fannie C. Iglehart was an intimate friend of this 
bride, as well as of Governor and Mrs. Coke. 

She was ever loyal to her husband, and he lavished 
his wealth upon her. While Senator Coke was in 
Congress, Mrs. Coke spent most of her time in their 

80 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



palatial home in Waco, but made frequent trips to 
Washington to visit her husband. Four children were 
born to Senator and Mrs. Coke, none of whom are liv- 
ing now. She survived her husband several years, her 
brother, James Home, of Waco, living with her. He 
was the only living member of her family, and in- 
herited the Coke fortune. 

Mary Evans Home was born in Georgia, March 29, 
1837. At the age of ten her family moved to Monroe 
County, Mississippi, but lived there only three years, 
when they decided to come to Texas. With the Rosses 
and other pioneers they settled in McLennan County, 
in 1850, when Waco was a little Indian village. The 
young lawyer, Richard Coke, fell in love with Miss 
Home's foot and ankle. He saw her step in her car- 
riage and made the remark: "I am going to marry 
that girl.'* It seemed the girl was willing, for they 
were married August 5, 1852. Mrs. Coke was a 
slender woman of medium size, and wore a No. 12 
shoe. Her husband was very proud of her Cinderella- 
like foot, and bought her shoes himself until he died. 

Mrs. Coke was a good Christian, and had a deep 
love for humanity. She was charitable, giving of her 
abundance to the poor and needy. Her chief ambition 
in life was to make a happy home for her husband and 
in this she was eminently successful. 

Except for the two years in the mansion at Austin, 
Mrs. Coke spent nearly half a century in Waco. She 
died October 25, 1900. 



81 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. HUBBARD 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



JANIE ROBERTS 

WIFE OF RICHARD B. HUBBARD 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1876 TO 1879 

Virginia may have the honor of being ''Mother of 
Presidents," but to good old Georgia belongs the dis- 
tinction of having been the ''Mother of Texas' Gov- 
ernors' Wives." 

The subject of this biography had a splendid and 
picturesque career. She was born in the land of the 
Oglethorpes; was educated and married in Texas, and 
attained to the highest honor that can come to a 
woman of our State — that of Mistress of the Mansion. 
Later she became "The Lady of the Palace" of far 
away Japan, where her husband, Richard Hubbard, 
was envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
from our country, having been appointed by President 
Cleveland. 

Charles Lamb says something to the effect that 
dwelling on genealogy makes one too much like a 
potato, best part underground. But it is a comfort to 
know that blood tells. This was plainly evident in the 
personal charm, the elegant graciousness and the dig- 
nified poise of Janie Roberts. 

She was the daughter of Hon. Willis Roberts, for- 
merly a member of the Georgia Senate and later a 
prominent planter of Smith County, Texas. From her 
father she inherited not only a brilliant mind but much 
of the inborn tact of the master politician. 

Janie Roberts was born in Georgia, August 9, 1849. 

83. 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



She was married to Richard B. Hubbard, December 2, 
1869, at the Roberts' home in Tyler. She died in 
Nikko, Japan, in 1897, about a year and a half after 
they arrived at the legation. Her body was embalmed 
and placed in an above-ground vault with all the pomp 
and courtesy that the Japanese government delights 
to bestow on any representative of 'The Great Repub- 
lic of the West." Here the body rested in the ''Land 
of the Morning," until Governor Hubbard and family 
returned to their native country three years later, 
when it was laid away in the cemetery at Tyler. 

After Mrs. Hubbard's death, her capable and at- 
tractive young stepdaughter, Rena Hubbard, who was 
at that time the wife of Fred Mansfield, secretary of 
the American legation, but is now Mrs. Merrill of 
Tyler, assumed the duties of hostess of the legation in 
Japan, and cared for the little four-year-old sister, 
Searcy, who is now Mrs. Hardy, of Dallas. 

Every one who lived in Austin in the late seventies, 
remembers Mrs. Hubbard as an elegant and imposing 
hostess of the mansion, famed for her charming man- 
ners and her good looks. At that time she had only the 
little son, Charley, and her stepdaughter, Rena. On 
one occasion when Mrs. Hubbard was spending the 
day with Mrs. Andrew Neill, little Charley got his 
head caught between the walnut banister rails of the 
old stairway. Every one was frightened and worried 
except Mrs. Hubbard, who said in that quiet way of 
hers, "I knew Charley would do something which he 
ought not to do. I generally punish him before I leave 
home to assure his good behavior." It was afterward 



84 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

learned that the punishment meted out to Charley con- 
sisted in standing him on a chair and switching his 
little stockinged legs. Let me further state for the 
benefit of anyone who might worry over it, if I left 
Charley in such a predicament, that his head was ex- 
tricated without any injury to him or the banister rail. 
Mrs. Hubbard's two sons, of whom the older one was 
Charley, are resting beside her in the family burial 
ground at Tyler. 

Mrs. Julia Searcy, of Dallas, for whom Mrs. Hub- 
bard's daughter was named, whose husband was then 
on the bench in Austin, writes me : "My own friend- 
ship for Mrs. Hubbard began during the days of Gov- 
ernor Hubbard's administration as Governor of Texas, 
and I appreciate her and remember her as a very dear 
friend and as a woman of high and noble character. 
During this time she graced the mansion and fulfilled 
the duties of her position in an exceptionally endearing 
manner, and with a brilliancy and character rarely 
excelled." 

It was during the Hubbard administration that Miss 
Nettie Houston was married to Major W. L. Bring- 
hurst, who at that time was teaching in Austin at the 
Military Institute. Notwithstanding the cold, rainy 
spring night, about thirty guests gathered in the man- 
sion parlors to witness the ceremony. 

Nettie Houston, dressed in white satin, was given 
away by Governor Hubbard. Mrs. Hubbard was in 
mourning, so the attractive, golden-haired Fannie 
Campbell, now Mrs. T. S. Maxey, who was the brides- 
maid, went in with Professor Bringhurst. 

as 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



There were no florists in Austin at that time and 
it was almost impossible to get flowers in dead of win- 
ter. Mrs. Maxey told me she borrowed the orange 
blossoms of a bride friend and trimmed her swell 
dress elaborately with them. Then she laughed heart- 
ily and said, ''I was truly in bridal array." 

Little Rena Hubbard sat on the stair and watched 
the ceremony near the double doors with childish cu- 
riosity. 

The original write-up taken from The Democratic 
Statesman (Austin), March 15, 1877, is not only in- 
teresting as historical data, but is also a study in 
journalism. 

''Major W. L. Bringhurst and Miss Nettie Power 
Houston were married Wednesday evening (March 1, 
1877), at the Governor's Mansion, by Rev. Dr. Choplin. 
The family of Governor Hubbard and the attendant 
of the bride and groom were the only witnesses of the 
impressive ceremonial. There was singular propriety 
in having such a marriage celebrated in such a place. 
The daughter of Sam Houston, inheriting certainly the 
most poetical attributes of his genius, wedded to Texas 
by a thousand memories, could hardly begin the new 
life without the benediction of the commonwealth 
which Houston having protected and saved, ever owes 
a roof -tree to his children. Major Bringhurst is a 
Louisianian of faultless lineage and admirable taste 
and bearing. Properly the chief magistrate of Texas 
standing in loco parentis and representing the State, 
gave away the bride and tendered a feast worthy of 
the youthful pair and the memorable social event." 



86 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

En route to Japan, when the very shores of this 
picturesque island were in view, the huge Pacific liner 
Tokio struck an uncharted coral reef and for a while it 
was feared all would go down, but a Japanese ship 
came to the rescue and all the passengers were saved. 
Whether this shock seriously affected Mrs. Hubbard's 
health or not, she was never very well after reaching 
Japan. Her life was very happy in the spacious and 
luxurious but not palatial American embassy in To- 
kio. She attended only two formal receptions after 
her presentation to the Empress. While it is not 
unusual for Texas womanhood to bow to royalty, and 
several of our women have represented this great Na- 
tion in foreign courts, still it is interesting to know 
and read about them. In Japan as the American am- 
bassador is presented to the Mikado, a similar cere- 
mony takes place between the Empress and "His Lady 
at the Palace." On this occasion, Mrs. Hubbard passed 
down the aisles of the palace bowing low three times. 
Then the Empress, a descendant of a long line of 
kings, in the palace of an empire older than Roman or 
Grecian dynasties, made a brief but earnest address 
to Mrs. Hubbard, who then bowed, made a short re- 
sponse, and slowly backed the full length of the re- 
ception room. 

She attended a New Year's reception given by the 
Emperor and Empress, but the function she most en- 
joyed was the imperial chrysanthemum garden party 
in the palace grounds. It is said that there are no 
other gardens of the world that compare with the 
gardens of Japan. Here the shrubs cut in the fanciful 

87 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

shape of bird, beast, and fowl; vines and tea houses; 
mimic cascades and waterfalls; native and gorgeous 
chrysanthemums make a veritable fairyland of beauty, 
while beyond are glimpses of the sea. Add to this, the 
artistic dressing of the Japanese royal household, and 
distinguished guests, the blazing gold of the naval and 
military attaches, and the exquisite gowns of the for- 
eign representatives ; and there is no wonder this scene 
was ineffably stamped on the mind of the beautiful 
Texas woman who reveled in loveliness. 

Mrs. Hubbard was a woman of the highest type; 
by her culture, her charm and her social ideals, she 
endeared herself to all who came in contact with her. 

There is a deep regret in the hearts of Texas women 
that Mrs. Hubbard did not live to bring back from the 
land of the Mikado her impressions of the Flowery 
Kingdom. 



88 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



FRANCES WICKLIFF EDWARDS 

WIFE OF O. M. ROBERTS 
GOVERNOR OR TEXAS FROM 1879 TO 1883 

The parents of Frances Wickliff Edwards were 
Scotch-English, and the intermingled blood of these 
forebears was easily traceable in the pretty, fresh- 
looking girl with brown hair and eyes, who was born 
March 4, 1819, in the Greenville District of South 
Carolina, and who was afterward to become the 
wife of a Governor of Texas, when the State was in 
its transitive period. 

The parents of Frances Wickliff Edwards were 
Peter Edwards and Mary Salmon, who were married 
in the Greenville District. They had six daughters 
but no son. Their daughters were Sarah, Elizabeth, 
Frances, Hariet, Mary and Eliza. These daughters 
married respectively men named Kirkley, Rhea, Rob- 
erts, Dean, Mullins, and Barber. 

This genealogy was written by Governor Roberts on 
the back of one of the photographs here used and 
given to Mrs. Josephine Gribble of Hyde Park, whose 
mother was first cousin to Frances Edwards. This 
portrait was made while Mrs. Roberts was in the 
mansion. The other picture taken many years earlier, 
was made from one in the possession of Mrs. Fannie 
Spain, a daughter of Mrs. Roberts, now living in 
Austin. 

When Frances Edwards was quite young her parents 

89 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. FRANCES EDWARDS ROBERTS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

moved to Ashville, Alabama, and there on the 12th of 
December, 1837, she was married to Oran M. Roberts. 
If Frances Edwards Roberts had one characteristic 
more marked than another it was plain common sense. 
This with a deeply religious nature made her an ex- 
cellent type for a pioneer Texan. 

In 1841, O. M. Roberts and family moved to San 
Augustine, at that time one of the flourishing towns 
of Texas, where he began the practice of law. For 
many years they lived on their plantation on the Pa- 
troon River, only a few miles from San Augustine, 
but in Shelby County. 

During the Civil War, Mrs. Roberts did the weaving 
for four soldiers. She could not card on account of 
asthma. Like many an early Texan, she was very fond 
of coffee, and could not bear the mixture of rye and 
barley, so universally used as a substitute for coffee 
in war times. At that time luxuries were not only 
high but scarce. Her husband secured a sack of coffee 
at Houston and took it to her at their home in Tyler, 
urging her to be very economical with it, as it was 
probably all he could get till the war was over. At 
this time Mrs. Roberts had fitted up a small house 
on the adjacent lot as a temporary hospital for mem- 
bers of the Old Alcalde's regiment — the Eleventh 
Texas Infantry. Here she nursed the sick and home- 
sick soldiers, and, it is said, they drank more of that 
precious sack of coffee than did their generous nurse. 

In 1879 Governor and Mrs. Roberts entered the man- 
sion as the official head of the State. At this time 
Texas had about recovered from her war debts and 

91 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. FRANCES EDWARDS ROBERTS 
From the Favorite Photograph of Governpr Roberts 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

was now to enter a period of prosperity. Educational 
institutions and the new State Capitol were to be 
planned for and started, and a great deal of the bitter- 
ness of the reconstruction days was forgotten in this 
altruistic era. 

Mrs. Roberts' introduction to Austin society was 
spent in supervising the preparations for a big levee 
to be given the Legislature. Pigs, chickens, turkeys, 
salads, cakes, and pies galore took the place of the 
dainty sandwich or refreshing ice of today. Coffee 
was made and served by the gallon and the doors of 
the hospitable old mansion were thrown wide to the 
public — such was the democracy of the Roberts regime. 

One of the legislators of the time remarked : ''Mrs. 
Roberts is rather plain and I don't know how I will 
like her." After he attended the first levee he was 
heard to say, ''Old Mrs. Roberts will do. I never ate 
such a supper." 

Mrs. Roberts was not a society woman, and two 
ladies of Austin's smart set were shocked to find the 
Governor's wife calmly gathering turnip greens from 
the mansion patch when they went to call. Mrs. Rob- 
erts was not in the least abashed; after wiping her 
hands on her blue-checked apron, she was her own 
natural self. Not only these visitors, but all of Aus- 
tin, learned to admire Mrs. Roberts' sterling qualities 
after they knew her better. 

She made the mansion an extremely homey place. 
The back parlor was converted into a bedroom; for 
every constituent who came to Austin felt a perfect 
right to visit them. Many of the prominent educators 

93 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



of the day gathered in Governor Roberts' study, now 
the library, to discuss matters of State-wide interest. 
Among these were Judge Gould and Ashbel Smith. 
Judge Reagan was a frequent visitor. General Ben- 
ivedes was a guest in this hospitable home. After he 
returned to Mexico he sent Mrs. Roberts some hand- 
some onyx table ornaments and a cage of parrots. 

It was at this time that Elizabeth Ney, the famous 
sculptor, paid her first visit to Austin, and was a 
guest at the mansion. Mrs. Roberts was too decided- 
ly a woman of the old school to admire the radical 
views of the cosmopolitan Miss Ney. 

It was while Mrs. Roberts was the first lady of 
Texas that the old Capitol burned, and so many val- 
uable papers were lost to the State. The few water- 
soaked and blackened pictures that were saved from 
the fire were then taken up to the mansion. Later 
these pictures were the bete noir of several good house- 
keepers, and the way they were treated by later Gov- 
ernors' wives is a study in character by itself. She 
entertained in the old-time way with **levees" for the 
Legislature, and gave a smiling welcome to the "Storm 
parties" that were fashionable among the younger set 
of that period. 

She was a woman of strong character, and had an 
exalted notion of what was right. Just after the war 
when her husband was harassed by financial difficul- 
ties, she urged him to sell the home so that all debts 
might be honestly settled. That their fortune was 
restored is due as much to her good management as 
to Governor Roberts' ability. 



94 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Mrs. Roberts died November 27, 1883. Mrs. Re- 
becca Fisher, a warm personal friend, was with Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Roberts at her death. Her funeral 
was one of the most impressive ever held in Austin; 
besides numerous and costly floral emblems, the entire 
law class of the University of Texas acted as an hon- 
orary escort, marching on either side of the hearse. 

Governor and Mrs. Roberts reared seven children to 
manhood and womanhood. Of these there are now two 
survivors — Mrs. Fannie Spain and Oran Roberts, who 
are now living in Austin. 



95 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ANKE] MARIA PENN 

WIFEf OF GOVERNOR JOHN IRELAND 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1883 TO 1887 

There are members of this family whose motto is, 
'The Democratic party, the Methodist Church and the 
Perm family." Mrs. Ireland did not care for political 
parties, nor did she share the ambitions of her brainy 
husband, but in her own quiet way she was always 
loyal to her church and to her family. She was a de- 
vout Methodist from the days of her childhood, and 
adhered to the tenets of her faith with all the strength 
of her convictions. 

At one time the Confederate Veterans were being 
entertained at the mansion. One of the waiters left. 
Mrs. Ireland put on her apron and helped to serve the 
bountiful refreshments. When some one commented 
that this was beneath her dignity, she replied : 'That 
is what I would do in my own home if the emergency 
arose." 

Beautiful Rosalie, the young daughter, was the life 
of the mansion. After supper one evening a party of 
young people had gathered in the parlor, and Rosalie 
played a spirited waltz. The company paired off to 
dance in the roomy hall, when Mrs. Ireland went to 
Rosalie and said: ''Stop playing; if they dance, it 
will be elsewhere, not in my house." With that she 
turned the key in the piano and slipped it in her 
pocket. 

She did not come to Austin for her husband's in- 

96 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

auguration, but remained at the hospitable old home in 
Seguin. Mrs. Rebecca Fisher, a warm personal 
friend, wrote and urged her to come, but added, "If 
you do not, I will represent you in the grand march." 
Mrs. Ireland promptly replied : **If you represent me, 
you will stay at home ; that is what I am doing." Yet 
Mrs. Ireland had many warm personal friends. Mrs. 
Fisher said to me a short while ago with a glow of en- 
thusiasm on her fine old face: 'The world does not 
know the good that woman did while she was in the 
mansion. I have seen her get in her buggy and dis- 
tribute basket after basket of provisions to the poor 
and needy. Dispensing charity was a real pleasure to 
this Governor's wife." Pure in spirit, in harmony 
with God, her life ran on like some great river, free 
from the turmoil or traffic along its course. If she 
failed to enter into the ambitions of her husband's life, 
it was because she could not see her duty in that way. 
It was while Mrs. Ireland was in the mansion, that 
the cornerstone of our big granite capitol was laid. 
At the formal social functions at the mansion, Mrs. 
Ireland was ably assisted by Governor Ireland's 
daughter, Matilda Carpenter, known to her girlhood 
friends as "Tillie." Mr. Carpenter was Governor 
Ireland's private secretary, and it was while they 
were living with Governor and Mrs. Ireland in the 
mansion that a beautiful blue-eyed baby was born to 
them, the second baby born in the mansion; but this 
dear little one lived only a short while. People of that 
day speak with enthusiasm of the elegant entertain- 
ments, purified to conform with Mrs. Ireland's ideas, 

97 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. IRELAND 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

and yet distinguished by unfailing good taste, in which 
Mrs. Carpenter always displayed admirable tact and 
good judgment as a hostess. 

Rosalie Ireland was another happy bride, who was 
married in the mansion. She left the mansion on 
September 18, 1884. Her husband, E. S. Hurt, was 
a prominent young man who was at the time attending 
the University. The ceremony was performed by Dr. 
Goodwin, the beloved pastor of the Methodist Church 
in Austin. The beautiful Goodwin girls were great 
friends of the Irelands, and were always included in 
the entertainments at the mansion. One of them is 
now Mrs. H. C. Carter of San Antonio. 

A strange instance of how fate blends the lives of 
people is shown in this administration. Dr. W. Shap- 
ard, a warm friend of Governor and Mrs. Ireland, was 
appointed superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb In- 
stitute in Austin at that time. Dr. Shapard's daugh- 
ter, Emma, is now Mrs. Stedman of Austin, the step- 
mother of the beautiful young wife of Ireland Graves, 
grandson of the Governor. 

Annie Maria Ireland was the daughter of Columbus 
and Frances Rives Penn and was born in Henry 
County, Virginia, July 7, 1833. Mr. Penn and his 
family left Virginia and en route to Texas, spent a 
few years in Mississippi. It was here Anne Maria 
Penh and Mary McKay became warm friends. 
Long years after Anne Maria Penn was to preside 
over the mansion as the wife of Governor John Ireland. 
Mary McKay, still later was to visit the mansion as 

99 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

an honored guest while her daughter, Mrs. Thomas 
Campbell was the first lady of Texas. 

The Penn family came to Texas in 1855, and settled 
at Ruterville, Fayette County. It was here in 1857, 
she married John Ireland. The young couple first 
made their home in Seguin, where the husband and 
Andrew Neil were law partners. It was here in this 
rambling old Southern home that Mrs. Ireland was at 
her best. Not only were the doors open to the great 
men of the State and Nation and a wide circle of 
friends, but the poor and needy were encouraged,, and 
often financially assisted to go forth to meet life's 
problems. 

When the Civil War broke out, John Ireland mus- 
tered a company of volunteers from Guadalupe County 
and went to the protection of the coast. Mrs. Ireland 
took her children and went where she could be near 
him. She was a splendid nurse to many a sick and 
wounded soldier. She took a delight in dispensing pro- 
visions and medicine furnished by her husband. Gov- 
ernor Ireland was very well off in this world's goods 
and encouraged his wife in her charities. She spe- 
cially delighted in helping struggling young people of 
either sex. While living with her grandson, Ireland 
Graves, in his student days, she often sat for a whole 
afternoon darning socks for boys who were far from 
home and mother. She had a sympathetic heart, and 
a strong mind, not devoid of humor. Her influence 
over more than one of the University boys helped to 
make better men of them. 

Four children were born to John Ireland and Anne 

IOC 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Maria Ireland. Mary, the eldest, was the mother of 
Ireland Graves of Austin. Rosalie's children now 
alive, are Mrs. J. G. Wilcox, of Austin, and Elbridge 
Hurt, who is seeking health beneath the sunny skies 
at Silver City, New Mexico; and Mrs. Carpenter and 
her daughter, Mrs. Lipscomb, who are at Wharton. 
George Carpenter is in Houston and Mrs. Carpenter's 
son, Pat Ireland, of Dallas, was legally adopted by Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Ireland and took his grandfather's 
name. 

Mrs. Ireland died at Austin, Sunday morning. May 
28, 1911, and her remains were taken to Seguin for 
burial. The flag was at half mast on the State Capitol 
out of respect for this Governor's wife, who had 
nearly reached her seventy-eighth milestone. Memo- 
rial services were held in Austin churches, and beauti- 
ful tributes were paid her Christian character both 
by the press and by the clergy of Texas. 

"No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in 
its strife, and all life not be purer and stronger 
thereby." 



101 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



i 




MRS. ROSS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ELIZABETH DOROTHY TINSLEY 

WIFE OF GOVERNOR L. S. ROSS 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1887 TO 1891 

Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley is another native born 
Georgian, who became a Texas Governor's wife. She 
was born in Augusta in 1847, and received her educa- 
tion in the home under a governess. Her father was 
a physician and planter, and was the son of a well- 
known Georgia family. Mr. Tinsley moved to Waco 
when Elizabeth was a small child. Here this bonny 
girl, a real Irish type of beauty, was reared to woman- 
hood. It was here that Lawrence Sullivan Ross, the 
lawyer, Indian fighter, and pioneer citizen, wooed her 
and married her in 1862. They had been married only 
a few weeks when her young husband left to join the 
army. His career in the Civil War, which the wait- 
ing, anxious young wife followed with keen axiety, is 
history. Many years later the New Orleans Picayune, 
in a long article, had this to say of him : "Under the 
leadership of Ross, Texas' brigade embellished the 
history of the war with its exploits upon many a 
battlefield, from the commencement of the struggle 
until the Confederate banner was furled at Gainesville, 
Alabama." He rose from the rank of a major to be 
a brigadier general; in civil life from Sheriff of Mc- 
Lennan County to be Senator and member of the 
Constitutional Convention, and then to be Governor 
of the State of Texas. 

A more popular man never entered Austin to as- 

103 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




\ 



MISS FLORINE ROSS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

sume the duties of Chief Executive. His family was 
feted and toasted as none had been up to that time. 
The delayed train which brought Governor Ross and 
family besides numerous friends and followers from 
Waco, did not reach town till nearly 1 o'clock a. m. ; 
yet enthusiastic admirers, the Austin Grays and oth- 
ers withstood the nipping January air to be on hand 
to do them honor. When the train at last pulled slowly 
in, a multitude of voices bade them welcome, and 
cheer after cheer rang out in true Texas style. The 
Governor and his family were borne in state behind a 
handsome team of four black horses to the Driskill 
Hotel, where apartments were ready for them. Gen- 
eral and Mrs. Ross were accompanied from Waco by 
Mrs. R. B. Parrott, Mrs. Rotan, Mrs. Cameron, Miss 
Florine Ross, the debutante daughter of the house, 
and Jennie Ross, a niece; Misses Mary Thompson 
Cameron and Bertie Aycock. 

The Ross inaugural reception was held in the spa- 
cious Driskill, where the rich draperies and furnish- 
ings were a fine background for the tasteful decora- 
tions and the handsome gowns worn by the ladies. At 
the ball Mrs. Ross wore a heavy black silk, en traine 
and trimmed in jet ornaments. An elaborate supper 
was a feature of the evening, but so great was the 
crowd that by the time the official family, the out-of- 
town guests and distinguished visitors had partaken 
of boned turkey and other delicacies, it was broad daj^ 
and the smiling Austin hosts and hostesses went sup- 
perless or rather breakfastless, to bed. 

Mrs. Ross was a true helpmeet to her husband, who 

105 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



has been known to say that she had frequently made 
friends for him — in a political way — that he could not 
reach. She was his confidante and adviser. While she 
was devoted to her children, she never allowed them to 
displace her first deep affection for her husband. 

Governor and Mrs. Ross had eight children, five of 
whom are now living : Mrs. Florine Ross Harrington, 
of Kingsville, Mrs. Bessie Ross Clark, of Fort Worth, 
Harvey B. Ross, of Waco, Dr. Frank R. Ross, of 
Houston, and Judge N. P. Ross, of Andrews. 

Handsome Lawrence Ross, who was quite a beau 
during the Ross administration, later married petite 
Mollie Duffield. For a while they made their home 
at Harlingen. Lawrence Ross died in 1914. 

The home life in the mansion while Mrs. Ross was 
there was extremely pleasant. She entertained in a 
sensible, unostentatious way, but with a family of 
young people, who were encouraged to gather their 
friends about them, the old house rang with music, 
laughter and song. 

Mrs. Ross acted as hostess for the State at the ded- 
ication of the big granite Capitol. Here, under the 
dome of one of the Union's greatest State houses, was 
given undoubtedly the most elaborate reception and 
ball that any Governor's wife has ever graced. It was 
of international importance, and Old Mexico sent em- 
inent sons, Santos Benavides and Enrique E. Mexia, 
with greetings. The famous Gilmore's band made 
music in one wing of the Capitol, while the dreaming 
music of the Mexican National band drifted over the 
heads of the assembled multitude in the other wing. 

106 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Governor and Mrs. Ross led the grand march. Mrs. 
Ross was gowned in black lace over moire antique 
with jet trimmings and ruby ornaments. Among the 
many handsomely gowned women some stood out like 
jewels in rare settings, among whom were Mesdames 
Carl Drake, Walter Bremond, Will Tobin, Mollie E. 
Moore Davis, Charles Morse, C. E. Anderson, John 
Maxey, E. M. House, A. W. Terrell, J. T. Trezevant, 
and Mrs. Anna Hearne. Miss Florine Ross wore a 
train dress of blue moire silk and pink tulle, draped 
with lilies of the vally, decollete, diamond ornaments. 
Among the beautiful belles were Miss Nellie McCol- 
lum. Leak, of Dallas, Julia Nalle, the beautiful Wooten 
girls, Alice Dowell, Sallie White, of Gonzales, Kate 
and Carter Hendricks, Jennie Duffield, Pearl Hardy, 
Derie and Bernie Smith, Helen Grant, Hallie Bryan, 
Eva Saylor, Verna Gorham, and Sallie Searight, who 
was at that time sponsor of the Houston Light Guards. 
Many of these girls are now the mothers of equally 
charming daughters, and so the world moves on. 

When Governor Ross left the mansion, he was 
given charge of the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
lege at Bryan. Mrs. Ross died in Bryan only a short 
while after Governor Ross, and they are laid side by 
side in the cemetery at Waco. 



107 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. HOGG 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



SARAH STINSON 

WIFE OF JAMES S. HOGG 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1891 TO 1895 

Mrs. Hogg was the daughter of J. A. Stinson and 
Ann West, of Georgia. She was born in that State 
and came with her parents to Texas in 1860. She was 
a pupil of Prof. M. H. Looney in the town of Gilmer. 
Like the young girls of that period, she was married 
early, and in 1.874 became the wife of James S. Hogg. 
They lived for short periods in Quitman, Mineola, and 
Tyler. 

In 1886, Governor Hogg was elected Attorney Gen- 
eral of Texas, and Mrs. Hogg came with him to live in 
Austin. She was a most modest and refined little 
gentlewoman, and endeared herself to many Austin 
people. 

In 1891, when Governor Hogg went into the man- 
sion, the place was about as bare and comfortless as a 
home could be. There were no stoves in the huge 
halls, and the fireplaces, though piled with blazing 
logs, could not warm the house. Here our native born 
Governor, his frail wife and the four romping chil- 
dren set up a regime of whole-souled hospitality. The 
newspapers made many comments on the name of the 
little ten-year-old daughter of the house, Ima Hogg. 
Intimate friends knew she was named by Governor 
Hogg after a favorite heroine in a novel. Then next 
day when some facetious friends made a play on the 
name, the Governor and Mrs. Hogg refused to change. 

109 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Will, Tom, and Mike, the sturdy sons of the house, were 
often questioned by the gullible public as to whether 
they were not named Ura or Harry. 

Governor Hogg refused to let any duty, public or pri- 
vate, interfere with his Saturday evenings at home; 
and, in a way, these informal gatherings of old and 
young once a week at the mansion were as famous as 
Mrs. Sayers' Tuesday afternoons of a later period. 
At this time they would often begin with one or two 
tables of euchre, and as the guests would come in, 
would arrange more tables until often the front and 
back parlors were filled with a laughing, merry crowd. 
Mrs. Hogg was a splendid player, and invariably 
euchred Governor Hogg. ''James Hogg, I've got 
you!" she would exultingly cry out. There were no 
prizes; the pleasure was in the zest of the game. 

On one Saturday evening, Mr. and Mrs. House, 
Governor and Mrs. Hogg, Miss Fannie Andrews, a 
great favorite in the mansion, and some other guests, 
had a quiet game; afterwards the servant brought in 
as a rare treat, some champagne and angel food cake. 
Neither Mrs. Hogg nor "Aunt Fannie" took any wine. 
Governor Hogg said, ''Look at them, Champagne is 
not strong enough. Bring in some of my 'Smith 
County' private brand." Later a friend sent Mrs. 
Hogg a case of delicious orange cider, which she was 
glad to substitute as a beverage even on State occa- 
sions. At these informal parties old Uncle Billy, whose 
fiddle had the soft, sweet cadences of the piney woods, 
which surrounded his home, often came in and played ; 
then the entire party would form a Virginia reel or a 

110 



TEXAS GOVE RNORS' WIVES 

square dance, where "ladies to the right, gents to the 
left," did away with any form of ceremony. 

Mrs. Hogg was absolutely true and reliable. With 
her group of lively and interesting youngsters, she was 
thoroughly just, and controlled them entirely by love. 
The little daughter could not realize how terribly her 
mother suffered with the headaches that came at least 
once a week and which completely prostrated her. It 
was at such times that her oldest son, then a slip of a 
boy, showed the tenderness and love which later de- 
veloped the splendid business man and citizen. For 
hours he would stay with his mother, ministering to 
her pain, and then, with a white face, would slip away 
to some loved neighbor and say : ''Can't you do some- 
thing for her? I've failed and am so blue." 

These headaches interfered sadly with formal func- 
tions at the mansion. Still Mrs. Hogg did her best 
when the occasion demanded. The big New Year re- 
ceptions were probably the most delightful. There 
were no regular caterers in those days to turn the 
kitchen over to;, but that ideal Southern cook, Eliza 
Hawkins — assisted, and, at times hindered by kindly 
neighbors — prepared all the refreshments for the man- 
sion parties in the roomy old kitchen. 

Two beautiful belles from East Texas, Sallie Starley 
and Edith Martin, one a decided blonde, the other a 
brunette with hair that rivaled the raven's wing, and 
laughing, curly-haired Annie McKay were conspicu- 
ous figures at these entertainments. Miss Starley af- 
fected a long curl which caressed her neck and fell to 
the band of her low-necked gown. 

Ill 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

A University student who has since become one of 
Texas' most prominent corporation lawyers, was heard 
to remark: ''The end of that curl looks like a pretty 
little bird's nest." 

Governor Hogg encouraged the children in their 
love for pets. An eight-foot squirrel cage in the yard 
held besides the bunnies several kinds of animals. A 
white parrot and a green one were much loved and 
humored. One of them, Jane, would often climb up on 
the dining-room chairs to be fed by Tom or Mike, and 
even if a warning glance from Mrs. Hogg repressed 
the children. Governor Hogg would give her a choice 
bit of food. This same Jane has been known to slip 
underneath the table and nibble the patent leather 
shoes of the guests. 

It is national history as to Governor Hogg's ab- 
horrence of dress suits and accessories. However, 
after he had been persuaded to get the entire "para- 
phernalia," the wardrobe door happened to be left 
ajar. The children heard Jane chuckling and laughing 
in her weird fashion, and went to see what mischief 
she was in. There she was in the bottom of the ward- 
robe, and Governor Hogg's evening pumps were peeled. 
One day "Jane," who had been given absolute liberty, 
tired of political life, opened her wings, sailed up in 
the air, and as Governor Hogg said, "flew straight to 
Mexico." 

Mrs. Hogg was charitable and did far more good in 
her unobtrusive way than the world ever knew. To- 
ward the last of the administration she failed percepti- 
bly and was taken to Pueblo, Colorado, for her health. 

112 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Before starting to Colorado, she rested for two weeks 
at the home of Mrs. Ella Dancy, now Mrs. Jos. Dibrell, 
of Seguin, who did everything in her power to help 
and strengthen her. Mrs. Hogg loved this restful 
place amid the cedar crowned hills, and once said to 
Mrs. Dancy, "If I knew how to conserve my strength 
as you do, I believe I could live fifty years. She died 
in Pueblo September 21, 1895, and was brought to 
Austin, where solemn obsequies were held at the guber- 
natorial mansion, and her remains were placed in Oak- 
wood. 

Miss Ima Hogg and Will and Mike Hogg live in Hous- 
ton. Tom Hogg lives in Tyler. Will Hogg is one of 
the most popular men in Texas, a regent of the State 
University and a lawyer of unquestionable ability. 
Mike and Tom have grown from harum-scarum boys to 
men's estate and promise in every sense of the word to 
make good. Ima Hogg has all the culture that money 
and travel can give. She has her mother's gentleness 
and her father's democracy. She is a strong anti- 
suffragist, but does not spend her time working against 
the "feminists." In Houston part of her time is given 
to a class of young girls to whom she teaches music 
without money and without price. As Ima Hogg is a 
splendid musician, this is a great work. She has many 
friends in Austin and returns at intervals to be feted 
and toasted by them. When she comes, she spends most 
of her time with Mrs. Will Caswell. 



113 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. CULBERSON AND DAUGHTER MARY 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



SALLY HARRISON 

WIFE OF CHARLES A. CULBERSON 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1895 TO 1899 

When Mrs. Culberson came to the mansion, she was 
probably the youngest woman who had ever filled this 
high position. Since she was an invalid, the Legisla- 
ture appropriated forty dollars a month for a house- 
keeper, and the big, barny old mansion w^as thoroughly 
renovated and made more habitable by the introduc- 
tion of Mrs. Culberson's handsome rugs, bric-a-bric, 
etc. She placed a cheerful, big base burner in those 
sepulchral halls and changed the temperature from 
arctic to temperate. She placed the silver plate on 
the Sam Houston bed that is now one of the most 
valued historical pieces of furniture in Texas. 

Mrs. Culberson took absolutely no interest in the 
political life of the State. She chose her friends care- 
fully for real worth and not to curry favor. Once 
when she was remonstrated with on the subject of not 
being more tactful she replied in that soft Southern 
voice, "What is the use? Charley is equal to that." 

When Governor Culberson first came to the mansion 
his wife was not a stranger in Austin, as they had 
lived at the Driskill while her husband was Attorney 
General of the State, though during that time she fre- 
quently visited friends in San Antonio. Her first year 
in the mansion was very quiet, not only because she 
was frail, but on account of the recent death of her 

115 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



father, Col. W. M. Harrison, of Jefferson, Texas. Her 
widowed mother and sister, Mrs. Schleuter, of Dallas, 
spent the greater part of the time with her. Together 
they were three typical gentlewomen of the South. 
While not what is termed a literary woman, Mrs. 
Culberson has a peculiarly discerning mind and is pos- 
sessed of a good deal of that rare commodity, good 
common sense. 

Just before the inaugural ball, Mrs. Culberson 
'phoned to Mrs. T. S. Maxey in San Antonio, who was 
a warm personal friend, to be sure and come over. 
Mrs. Maxey said : "I can't come to the ball because I 
haven't anything to wear but my yellow satin." Mrs. 
Culberson said : "Maxey, that won't do, you must get 
a new dress." Mrs. Maxey promptly replied: "My 
yellow brocade is to the inaugural balls of the Governor 
what the Queen's coach is to her coronation — it is part 
of the program. I'll be wearing that dress to inaugu- 
ral balls long after you have left the mansion." Mrs. 
Culberson laughed and said, "Well, come on anyway; 
it is you I want." 

Mrs. Schleuter assumed many of the cares of State 
so as to relieve the frail young sister. Mrs. Culberson 
never returned calls, and rarely accepted invitations 
out of a small circle of intimate acquaintances. She 
was very fond of friends, and they were devoted to 
her. Loved, petted, and shielded from every care, 
Mrs. Culberson is what might be termed a spoiled 
woman, but she was conscientious in obligations as 
State hostess when the occasion demanded. Mrs. Cul- 
berson would be satisfied with nothing but the best. 

116 



1 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

At one time a State reception was under way. Mrs. 
Culberson was lying on the couch, while Mrs. Schleu- 
ter and Anna Brown, nov/ Mrs. J. S. Myrick, were 
looking after the details. So particular was Mrs. Cul- 
berson that Mrs. Schleuter laughingly remarked, "Sally 
can lie there and keep forty women busy." 

Mrs. Culberson was the first hostess in Austin to 
serve cranberry sauce in individual molds. Various 
were the trials and tribulations in bringing this dainty 
to the perfection required, but after many trials of 
professional cooks and painstaking housewives, it was 
the coup d'etat of a mansion dinner. Mrs. Culberson 
will plan to the minutest detail the menus for her suc- 
cessful luncheons and dinners and then have others 
work to see that everything is perfect. The luncheon 
is her ideal entertainment, but everything is formal, 
everything is beautiful, and everything is delicious. 
Among her friends in Austin who often enjoyed her 
hospitality, a few may be mentioned : Mesdames T. S. 
Maxey, Ed House, the beloved Mrs. Will Tobin, Ro- 
sine Ryan (now of Houston), R. C. Pollard, John 
Bremond, R. W. Finley, Allison Mayfield, Mabry, B. 
M. Worsham, R. M. Thompson, Lewis Hancock, J. S. 
Myrick, Sidney Mezes, and Oliver Brush, the three last 
named being young ladies at the time. 

Mrs. Culberson has been heard to remark that the 
time spent in the mansion were the happiest years of 
her life. Senator Culberson tells with a great deal of 
amusement the following anecdote: ''I was sitting 
on the broad gallery (I am quite sure at that time he 
did not say porch) of the mansion one sultry after- 

117 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



noon, when a white-covered wagon, driven by a lank 
mountaineer, drove up to the front and stopped. The 
hungry-looking dog which followed, slipped panting in 
the shade of the wagon bed. The man asked, 'Be youse 
the Guvner?" ''I am," I replied. 

''Wa'll, I've never seed a Guvner, and I've never seed 
the house he lives in." 

''Come in and see me and the house," Governor Cul- 
berson said, with that rare charm and courtesy that 
is all his own. 

"I took him over the entire mansion, and he seemed 
to enjoy the trip. As we came out through the front 
hall, Mrs. Culberson and Mrs. Schleuter were there try- 
ing to get the breeze that generally makes that old 
hall delightful on the warmest day. I introduced the 
shirt-sleeved man, with his cowhide whip still in his 
hand to my wife and sister-in-law. 

"The man rambled on out. On the front steps he 
paused to take a final survey. 'Wa'll, I like you Guv- 
ner, and this house is the purtiest one I ever seed, but 
(with an expression of great self-satisfaction) my 
wimmin folks can sure take the shine off of yourn.' " 

Just as Mrs. Culberson was in mourning for her 
father when Governor Culberson entered upon his 
official duties as Texas' Chief Executive, so she was in 
black for her mother when they first entered Washing- 
ton official life. Miss Anna Brown spent that winter 
with them in Washington and relieved her friend of 
the necessary social cares. After returning ,^rom 
President McKinley's inaugural ball, Mrs. Culberson 
asked her husband about it, when he replied : "It was 

118 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

no better than your reception in Texas, Sally, just a 
little more of it." 

Mrs. Culberson is a woman who is in every way re- 
liable. She is not swayed by policy nor public opin- 
ion. She is particular to a fault. She does not toler- 
ate shams. On her walls are found only a few pic- 
tures, but they are gems of art. 

After Senator and Mrs. Culberson had been married 
eighteen years, the little daughter, Mary Harrison Cul- 
berson, was born. Senator Culberson wired friends in 
Texas when the baby came. *'It is only a little old girl," 
but that baby girl is the idol of his heart, and if ru- 
mors are true, she is her father's own daughter, and 
may yet lead the democracy of suffragettes with the 
ability that Senator Culberson has led his own party. 
She insisted on wearing rompers until her mother de- 
manded dresses, and when only twelve years old, she 
was clamoring to run her father's seven-passenger 
Pierce-Arrow. 

Sally Harrison was born at Clarksville, Texas, and 
was educated in Ward's Seminary at Nashville. She 
was married to Charley Culberson in 1882 at Jefferson, 
Texas. 

Senator and Mrs. Culberson and Mary are now liv- 
ing in Washington, but keep in close touch with their 
friends, often entertaining for the visiting Texans in 
Washington. 



119 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. SAYERS 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ORLENE WALTON 

WIFE OF JOSEPH D. SAYERS 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1899 TO 1903 

Some one has said, "In writing the biography of the 
living, especially of one whom you admire extrava- 
gantly, it is hard to get away from your own point of 
view." 

As a woman's life really begins with marriage, we 
will take Orlene Walton in 1879, the year she was mar- 
ried to her widower brother-in-law, of whom years 
before Col. Tom Greene had written after witnessing 
him in his first battle : "Lieutenant Sayers during the 
whole day reminded me of a hero in the days of chiv- 
alry. He is a gallant, daring, dashing soldier, and is 
as cool in storm of grape shell as a veteran. I rec- 
ommend him for promotion." 

Their honeymoon was spent in Austin, where Jo- 
seph D. Sayers was Lieutenant Governor under Gov- 
ernor Hubbard. Soon afterwards they went to Wash- 
ington, D. C., where Major Sayers was made chairman 
of the Appropriation Committee in the Congress of 
the United States, where he was to serve his country so 
long and so faithfully. 

His official position brought his dainty and attractive 
young wife into the social limelight. She was beauti- 
ful, slender, and distinguished with her long, oval face 
and complexion like illumined ivory. It was here that 
the warm friendship with Mme. Romero, the Mexican 
ambassador's wife began, that was to be broken only 

121 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



by death. Not a legation then in Washington excelled 
the splendor and elegance of the Romeros. For in- 
stance, at a dinner in Mme. Romero's home, the guests 
ate from a dinner service of solid gold. Only one who 
has seen the wealth of Mexico can appreciate the 
gorgeousness of a regime in a high class Mexican home. 
There is no doubt that the influence of this brilliant 
woman of the world on the Texas girl was far reaching. 

Mrs. Sayers, always an apt pupil, studied French 
in the Berlitz School of Languages that she might con- 
verse with the corps diplomatique. She became a 
great favorite in the official set, and met and enter- 
tained the men and women who make Washington 
City the Mecca of all that is delightful in the social 
world. 

She told me long years afterward: 'That was my 
training for the mansion. It was the Major's ambi- 
tion to be Governor of Texas, and I was perfectly 
happy when that ambition was realized." Other 
women might have grieved at leaving the Washington 
official family, but it was with a spirit of pride that 
she returned to be, in every way, the first lady of the 
State, and her every act proved she was sincere. 

There has never been, nor can ever be, another 
Governor's wife who has meant so much to Austin 
socially. With infinite tact she systematized the life 
of the mistress of the mansion. Without arrogance 
she formed a set of rules that have been of inestima- 
ble value to the women who were to follow her. She 
made Tuesday afternoon pre-eminently the mansion 
day. 

123 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



The first thing she did, after securing the permis- 
sion of the State, was to have a general overhauling of 
the house and grounds. The ugly fountains that stood 
like stiff sentinels on either side of the front walk 
were removed. Great rosebeds were planted on the 
south lawn to the rear. The interior of the mansion 
was done over with the utmost taste. The historical 
pictures were retouched by her own hand, reframed 
and hung in the beautiful colonial hall. The Sam 
Houston bed upon which Mrs. Culberson had placed 
the silver plate, was put into the hands of an expert 
cabinet maker. The natural richness of this four-post 
mahogany bed is brought out by the deep coloring of 
the tester. Suitable furniture was put in the room, 
and the southwest room at the head of the grand stair- 
way literally became the State bedroom. Instead of a 
housekeeper, she used the forty dollars per month ap- 
propriated, for service of two maids. Mrs. Sayers 
introduced her personality in the entire mansion, and 
it became the center of all that was best and elevating 
in Texas. 

Besides the official receptions and her regular days 
at home, Mrs. Sayers had receptions for different 
groups of ladies — the University set, the prominent 
women from over the State, the colonial dames and 
others ; while her receiving party numbered the brains 
and beauty not only of the official family, but of Aus- 
tin's social world. A memorable reception was one 
which happened to occur while the Goulds were tour- 
ing their lines in the South. 

The house guests were notified to come an hour ear- 

124 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



lier than the time set for the regular reception. Miss 
Helen Gould, with her pleasant smile and sympathetic 
eyes, was gowned in brown and wore a brown fur 
collar. She was specially delighted with Mrs. Sayers, 
and they discussed at length the Young Men's Christ- 
ian Association interests in Texas, which were so dear 
to the hearts of each. The entire Gould party were 
charmed with this break in their journey, and went 
away with a better idea of Texas than can be gotten 
from the inside of a private car. 

When, all Texas was thrown into mourning over the 
tragic storm that swept over the beloved Island City in 
1900, Mrs. Sayers was at the head of the Austin Re- 
lief Society, and worked with heart and soul to alle- 
viate the desolation. 

When President and Mrs. McKinley paid their mem- 
orable visit to Austin in May of 1901, they were honor 
guests at the mansion. At the reception tendered them 
the elaboration of detail was perfect. Mrs. Sayers 
planned the decorations and was ably assisted by Sam 
Harlan, then Superintendent of Public Buildings and 
Grounds. The large parlors were decorated in the 
beatitiful Southern smilax, while a wealth of roses 
added the proper color tone. Through the open win- 
dows the balmy air of a May night crept in^ as if to 
help the hostess in her desire to shower courtesies on 
the Nation's Chief Executive and his frail wife. Ex- 
cepting Judge Reagan of the Railroad Commission, a 
Texan whom Governors and people alike loved to honor, 
no one was pre'sent at the mansion dinner save the 

125 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

members of the executive party. The dining-room 
was changed to a floral grotto, and the table was ar- 
ranged in the form of a square with one side open. So | 
perfect was the menu, and so congenial the surround- 




THE COLONIAL STAIRWAY AT THE MANSION 



ings, that the President hummed a little air as he led 
Mrs. Sayers from the table. It was he who called 
Mrs. Sayers "The Governor of the Governor." 

Again Colonel and Mrs. Bryan were guests. Then 



126 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

two different governors of Mexico were entertained 
at a brilliant dinner as guests of State. 

With all Mrs. Sayers did, and there was scarcely 
a week that passed but some official or semi-official 
affair was held at the mansion, she returned all of her 
calls in person; she was feted and entertained; she 
painted china like an artist, rather than an amateur; 
she was devoted to her church work, and was presi- 
dent of the local Auxiliary to the Young Men's Christ- 
ian Association. Above all she was never too tired 
or too busy to cheer, comfort, or advise Governor 
Sayers when his duties were unusually arduous. In 
fact, I believe, in everything Mrs. Sayers has done 
since she became the wife of that much loved Texan, 
Major Joseph D. Sayers, her first thought was for her 
husband. 

Orlene Walton was born at Aberdeen, Miss. On ac- 
count of her frail health, her young life was carefully 
guarded from over study, yet she was taught by a 
governess in the home. Later in Bastrop she 
was fortunate in having for a teacher Mrs. Orgain, a 
cultured woman of the old South — a woman whom 
Mrs. Sayers still speaks of with love and tenderness. 
She was living at Bastrop, Texas, at the time of her 
marriage. Orlene Sayers is in every way a gracious, 
womanly woman, but how much of Major Sayers' po- 
litical success is due to her charming personality the 
world will never know. 

Governor and Mrs. Sayers are now living in their 
beautiful home in Austin, facing the purpling hills. 



127 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. LANHAM 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



SARAH BEONA MENG 

WIFE OF S. W. T. LANHAM 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1903 TO 1907 

The subject of this sketch was born in Pacolet, 
Union County, South Carolina, and was educated in 
Rev. Colon Murchison's School in Unionville. She was 
married in her native town September 4, 1866, to the 
twe^^ty-y ear-old soldier lover, who had just returned 
from the war. The gallant young Confederate and 
his girl bride came immediately to Weatherford. The 
young husband taught school for a short time and then 
began the practice of law, in which he was eminently 
successful. Here were born their three children, 
Fritz, Frank, and Grace. When they came to Austin, 
after S. W. T. Lanham was elected Governor, these 
young people became the life of the mansion. 

Mrs. Lanham was never very well, but she took a 
great deal of interest in her home affairs and in the 
affairs of State while her husband was the executive 
head. She was a woman of deep Christian character 
and strong in her beliefs. She never permitted wine 
or other liquors to be served at the mansion under her 
regime, either at 'public or at private functions; yet 
in her genial hospitality, no one could call Mrs. Lan- 
ham "straight-laced." 

At one time she became interested in obtaining a 
pardon for one whom she felt was worthy. She went 
in person before the Board of Pardons with an appli- 

129 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

cation for release and later presented the same appli- 
cation to Governor Lanham. With such a fair advo- 
cate, needless to say, the man secured his pardon. 

While Mrs. Lanham was at the mansion, she was 
notified of the death of a servant who had been for 
years in her family. She took the first train to 
Weatherford, attended the funeral, and drove into the 
country to be present at the burial. 

Governor and Mrs. Lanham were beautiful in their 
consistent Christian life. They talked of going home 
to heaven just as they might have spoken of going 
back to Weatherford. They had passed the age when 
the frills of society meant very much to them, yet 
there was always a welcome and always a plate for 
the stranger within the gate. 

When the State Federation of Women's Clubs met 
in Austin in November, 1905, Mrs. Lanham gave a 
beautiful reception in its honor, though at the time 
she was not strong enough to stand at the head of the 
receiving line and had to sit down the greater part of 
the evening. 

In her gowns, Mrs. Lanham affected gray, which, 
with her well-preserved coloring and her silvery hair, 
was very becoming. She did not care very much for 
jewelry, but was fond of rich lace. She was a cul- 
tured woman though never forcing her knowledge or 
accomplishments on any one. She spoke German flu- 
ently, having learned it after she was forty years old. 
In fact it is a lesson to a younger generation, especially 
to busy young mothers or to a young wife who is not 

130 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

able to afford the means of improvement. After the 
babies had grown up, when her husband acquired a 
little "nest egg," Mrs. Lanham took up the things she 
had neglected, things neglected, however, from a high 
sense of duty, not from any lack of aesthetic taste. 
Her paintings in oil and china were artistic and beau- 
tiful, yet she never touched a brush until she was 
past middle life. 

She took a great delight in the lives of her children 
and would, with her husband, occupy a box at the 
theater, to see the plays put on by Fritz and Frank, in 
which all three of her children took leading parts. 
Fritz Lanham married one of Austin's most beautiful 
girls. Miss Beulah Rowe, and they now live in Weath- 
erford, where he is practicing law. Frank married 
dainty, golden-haired Single Wooldridge and they are 
here in Austin. 

The most elaborate entertainment at the mansion 
during this administration was the wedding reception 
of Miss Grace Lanham, who was married to Edward 
Cowan Conner, of Dallas, January 1, 1907, Rt. Rev. T. 

B. Lee officiating. The bonny bride, who had laughed 
and danced the hours away while in Austin, was a fair 
example of Texas' girlhood. Her education began in 
the kindergarten of Mme. Polluck at Washington, D. C. 
She spent four years at Winston College at Salem, N. 

C, and graduated with honors. She was a degree pupil 
in music. She came from the schoolroom to be a 
debutante in the mansion, though she never made a 
formal bow to society. In fact, cultured, good-natured, 

131 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

Grace Lanham could not be formal if she tried". Her 
father's position, her charm of manner, her sincere 
and truthful character won friends wherever she went. 

This marriage was a University love match. Mr. 
Conner is a graduate engineer of the University. He 
has had unusual advantages, and has a marked talent 
for art. For several years he illustrated the Cactus. 
He is an S. A. E. man and is practicing his profes- 
sion in Dallas, where the young couple now live in 
their beautiful home on South Ervay Street. This 
wedding reception included the social world of Austin 
and many prominent out-of-town guests. The deco- 
rations were in keeping with the occasion, which fur- 
nished a fitting finale to the Lanham administration. 

Governor and Mrs. Lanham returned to their home 
in Weatherford, but only lived a short while before 
going to their mansion in the heavenly kingdom. In 
view of their many kind Christian acts, their modest 
demeanor and their broad charity, we can be sure that 
this other mansion is a goodly one. 

Mrs. Lanham died July 2, 1908, after an illness of 
one day. Governor Lanham died one month later. 
Husband and wife had been so closely connected in 
life, so congenial in thoughts and views, it was fitting 
that they should not be separated in death. 



132 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



FANNIE BRUNNER 

WIFE 0,F THOMAS M. CAMPBELL 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1907 TO 1911 

The generous reception given Governor and Mrs. 
Campbell by their people in Palestine after the re- 
turns from the gubernatorial election of 1907 showed 
that this family were not without honor in their own 
town. The newspapers in reporting this ovation 
said: "The honor was a joint affair in which Mrs. 
Campbell was equally an honoree with her husband.'' 

It is a coincidence that of the three native-born 
Governors the State has had — and Texas has had some 
splendid Governors — two should have come from the 
same county. It was this fact, probably, that made 
Governor Hogg and Governor Campbell life-long 
friends. When grown to manhood, Governor Hogg 
located at Tyler, while T. M. Campbell went to Pal- 
estine. Here the East Texas man made good. On 
December 24, 1878, he married Fannie Brunner. He 
met Miss Brunner two years before, while she was 
visiting in Texas, but just as Mrs. Campbell is slow 
to give her friendship, so was Miss Brunner slow to 
give her love ; but once given, either is a priceless pos- 
session. 

Fannie Brunner was born at Beauregard, Missis' 
sippi, and educated at one of the fashionable girls' 

133 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. CAMPBELL 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



schools of the South — The Central Female Institute of 
Clinton, Mississippi. 

She is a daughter of Capt. Wm. I. Brunner and Mrs. 
Mary McKay Brunner. On her father's side she is a 
descendant of a fine old English family. Her grand- 
father, John Sparke, coming to this country when 
quite a youth, was one of the pioneer settlers of St. 
Louis, Missouri. Her great-grand mother was a New 
York woman of splendid birth. 

Captain Brunner was the son of Edward E. Brun- 
ner, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, a well-known mer- 
chant. He was highly educated, a gallant Confeder- 
ate, and at the close of the war moved from Mississippi 
to Shreveport, Louisiana, where for many years he 
was city treasurer and here Miss Fannie Brunner 
spent her young ladyhood. 

Her mother was a Scotch woman and a member of 
the large and well-known McKay family of Mississippi 
which was represented in the legal and medical pro- 
fessions, and some of the largest planters in the State. 
Mrs. Brunner was one of a family of thirteen — a fam- 
ily well known and much esteemed in the annals of 
Mississippi history. Mary McKay and Anne Maria 
Penn, later the wife of Governor Ireland, were fast 
girlhood friends. Mrs. Brunner was till the day of 
her death a devoted member of 'the Presbyterian 
Church. Her gentle influence will be lasting not only 
on this devoted daughter, but on her children's chil- 
dren. 

135 



TEXAS GOV E RNORS' WIVES 

When the Campbells came to the mansion, the 
grounds were in a very neglected condition and one 
of the first things Mrs. Campbell had done was to 
have the terrace built and the entire grounds sur- 
rounded by a good walk. 

When the girls suggested putting this money on the 
inside rather than the outside of the mansion, Mrs. 
Campbell replied: 'The outside appearances should 
come first, and good side-walks on every side would 
give so many more people comfort and pleasure than 
to supply on the interior what would be comfortable 
and luxurious for us." 

Mrs. Campbell is passionately fond of flowers, and 
it was due to her influence that the Capitol green house 
was built. 

Modest to a fault, this dark-haired young wife 
went to Longview to make a real home for the ambi- 
tious young lawyer. Here their children were born, 
and the foundation for the real Campbell home was 
laid. Later they removed to Palestine, where Mr. 
Campbell became the general manager of the I. & G. 
N. Railroad. 

Mrs. Campbell is a devout Presbyterian, a woman 
on whose every word you can rely. She took a human 
interest in her home town, working for whatever was 
for the good or the uplift of the community. She is 
a clubwoman; she is a Daughter of the Confederacy, 
and while not encouraging sectional strife, she is 

136 



TEXAS COVERNORS' WIVES 



ever loyal to the ideals of the Southland ; above all she 
is a home-maker — the ideal mother of an ideal fam- 
ily. Mrs. Campbell has the culture that comes from 
birth and travel. She was the friend of statesmen 
before she ever came to Austin as the "Lady of the 
Mansion." On the afternoon that Mrs. Lanham intro- 
duced her to Austin as the wife of the next Governor, 
she simply came into her own. 

There was never any question as to who was Mis- 
tress of the Mansion when Mrs. Campbell was there — 
her personality permeated everything. She is se- 
cure in her husband's love and confidence, and her 
children idolize her. 

Aside from her graciousness, if Mrs. Campbell has 
one talent more marked than . another, it is that of 
being an original and unique hostess. From the state- 
liest function to the simplest ''tea" everything was 
dignified and elegant. 

Mrs. Campbell encouraged talent, and several de- 
lightful musicales were held during her regime. Quite 
often the voice of Maydelle Campbell with its bird- 
like trills added to the program as well as to the 
pleasure of the guests. A musicale she gave to the 
American History Club was unusually delightful. This 
club has since become famous because its loved mem- 
ber and president, Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, be- 
came the president of the National Federation of 
Women's Clubs. Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Penny- 
backer were friends in former years and it was but 

137 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




4 



1 



MISS FANNIE BRUNNER CAMPBELL 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



natural their club and social life should reunite in 
the delightful atmosphere of Aiistin. 

When Sammy Belle Campbell made her debut, it 
was at the Eighth Street Hall, but Mrs. Campbell and 
Miss Fannie carried out in detail one of the most 
unique social affairs ever held in the State. The debu- 
tant, accompanied by her chum sister, Maydelle, made 
her entrance in a flower-covered aeroplane; and lit- 
erally sailed into her kingdom of young ladyhood. The 
favors were in keeping with the airship idea, and many 
will remember the individual and beautiful dance that 
followed. 

Another time Mrs. Campbell had a luncheon. When 
the guests were ushered into the dining-room it was 
a typical representation of spring. Flowers were 
everywhere, and hovering around and about were 
vari-colored butterflies. With this artistic setting 
came a faultless menu. Beside the State and the New 
Year's receptions, with their delightful honor guests 
and beautiful, talented young women from over the 
State, Mrs. Campbell entertained the Federated Club 
women, the Mothers' Congress, the Texas Woman's 
Press Association, and several other organizations. 
She gave a specially brilliant reception to Col. and Mrs. 
William Jennings Bryan, who were the guests in the 
mansion, Col. Bryan and Governor Campbell being 
warm personal friends. 

A garden party in early summer was a special suc- 

139 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

cess. The handsomely gowned women, the gaily- 
tinted parasols and the refreshments served on the 
lawn, while the enormous ice centerpiece with inf rozen 
flowers and fruits, hung like a huge icicle, made every- 
one forget that summer was at hand. The colonial 
pillars of the broad gallery made a splendid back- 
ground for the gay party and the mocking birds' sweet 
notes were an accompaniment for the conversation 
of the ladies. 

Since leaving the mansion, Mrs. Campbell has not 
lost her interest in the welfare of the people at large. 
During the late campaign for President Woodrow 
Wilson she was chairman of the campaign fund for 
her district. The committee appointed by her raised 
over one thousand dollars. 

To tell of Mrs. Campbell, whether at home in Pal- 
estine, or as the wife of the Governor in Austin, 
without making special mention of Miss Fannie Brun- 
ner Campbell, the young lady daughter of the home, 
would be like a splendid book without a cover. The 
Campbell young people, each and all, had the good 
taste to realize the dignity of their position. Miss 
Fannie Campbell may be held up as an ideal daughter 
of the mansion. She was a graduate of Ward's at 
Nashville, an extensive traveler both on this continent 
and abroad, and ably assisted her mother in every way, 
but it was her splendid tact that fitted her for the posi- 
tion. Young people, as a rule, do not realize that the 
ideal Governor is not alone great in his official position, 
but great also in his wife and children. 

140 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Mrs. Campbell has inculcated the foundation of 
good breeding in her children. Invitations are prompt- 
ly answered, social courtesies are quickly acknowl- 
edged, and it is the natural order of this family to 
do the kindly act. 

As a parting courtesy to Mrs. Campbell, a silver 
tray was presented to her just before she left Austin, 
bearing this inscription : 

To 
Mrs. Thomas Mitchell Campbell, 

Mistress of 

The Executive Mansion of Texas, 

1907-1911. 

With the genuine respect 

and affection of 

The Women of Austin. 

Ex-Governor and Mrs. T. M. Campbell, Miss Fannie 
Brunner, Miss Sammy Belle, now Mrs. Clarence Dil- 
ley. Miss Maydelle, and Thomas Mitchell Jr., are now 
living in Palestine. 



141 



I 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. COLQUITT 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



ALICE FULLER MURRELL 

WIFE OF O. B. COLQUITT 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1911 TO 1915 

The father of Alice Fuller Murrell was the first 
white child born in Claiborne Parish, La. He grew to 
manhood and became a well-to-do planter and mer- 
chant, and at the time of his daughter's birth, lived 
at Minden, Webster Parish, La. Alice studied at the 
Minden College, and here grew to womanhood. She 
was visiting her married sister, Mrs. C. N. Aldridge, 
in Pittsburg, Texas, when she first met Oscar B. Col- 
quitt. The future Governor wooed this young girl, 
with her pink and white complexion and her glorious 
mass of wavy auburn hair, and it is whispered that 
when Mr. Colquitt first proposed, Alice Murrell prompt- 
ly said "no." Whether this "no" was the maidenly 
"'yes" or whether she changed her mind, "even as you 
and I," cannot be said; but all of Governor Colquitt's 
life has been proof that what he wants he gets. 

Oscar B. Colquitt and Alice Fuller Murrell were 
married December 9, 1885. Five children came to 
brighten the Colquitt home — Rollins Murrell, Sidney 
Burkhalter, Oscar B. Jr., Mary Alice, and Walter Ful- 
ler. In 1911 death broke the family circle, and Walter 
Fuller died, aged 15, just a few months before Gov- 
ernor and Mrs. Colquitt went to the mansion as the 
official head of the State. The eldest son, Rollins, as 
his father's campaign manager in two campaigns, dis- 

143 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

played rare executive ability. Sydney Colquitt, with 
his young wife, attended his father's second inaugu- 
ration, and in 1914 was accepted as one of Uncle 
Sam's lieutenants. He is stationed at Washington, 
District of Columbia. 

When she came into the mansion, Mrs. Colquitt was 
not a stranger in Austin, for her husband had served 
on the Railroad Commission previous to his election 
as Governor of Texas. She was president of the Al- 
bert Sydney Johnston Chapter of the United Daugh- 
ters of the Confederacy, and was worthy of the office, 
because she is loyal in thought and deed to all South- 
ern history and traditions. 

She was at the head of the crusade against tuber- 
culosis, and all Texas owes her a debt of gratitude for 
the work she has done in establishing tuberculosis 
camps in this State. It is through her untiring efforts 
that a goodly sum is realized each Christmas on the 
Red Cross stamps, the sale of which reverts to the 
care of tubercular patients and extends educative and 
preventive measures of the great white plague, 

Mrs. Colquitt was the first mistress of the mansion 
who used an automobile. She had a victoria and a 
span of handsome horses, but she was seen oftenest in 
the car, which was very often run by Miss Mary Col- 
quitt, who was an enthusiastic motorist. 

Mrs. Colquitt's strongest trait is her good common 
sense and splendid judgment. She never says un- 
kind things of other women. She is charitable and 
sympathetic. Mrs. Colquitt is a gracious hostess, 

141 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



and makes no effort to splurge. Often the children of 
some friend play around the parlors while the guests 
chat over a cup of tea. At a dinner given to Mrs. 
Ballington Booth of New York City, at the time of her 
visit to Austin in the interest of prison reforms, 
''Boots," the pet Angora cat, given to Mrs. Colquitt 
by Miss Mary Carlisle, purred around the table and 
was given a tidbit now and then by some of the fam- 
ily or guests. 

Mrs. Colquitt has traveled extensively in the United 
States since she has been in the mansion. Her longest 
trip was made when she went to join Miss Mary Col- 
quitt when she acted as maid to little Miss Lyons, who 
was called on to dedicate the battleship Texas at 
Newport News. At that time Miss Colquitt was a 
pupil at Bellecourt, Washington, D. C. 

The last winter of the Colquitt administration. Miss 
Colquitt was at home as the young lady of the mansion, 
though no formal debut was made. Miss Colquitt was 
one of the Duchesses at the Fort Worth Horse Show. 

Mrs. Colquitt has stood at the head of the receiving 
line in the mansion for several elaborate State func- 
tions, and is the second Governor's wife to be 'The 
Lady" at two inaugural balls. She had a decorator 
do over the lower floor and grand stairway at the 
mansion, and, deciding that the historical pictures 
were out of place in the hallway, she sent them to the 
Capitol for safe keeping. 

She is interested in her husband and children, but 
takes no interest whatever in politics or literary clubs. 

145 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



It is said that on one occasion during the second cam- 
paign, when feeling ran so high, Mrs. Colquitt and 
the wife of one of Governor Colquitt's bitterest polit- 
ical foes, Mrs. Lane, met in Scarbrough's store, and 
over the glove counter calmly compared recipes for 
a choice preserve. 

Mrs. Colquitt is a loyal friend, and chooses her 
friends to suit herself, heeding not wealth, position or 
influence. 

When Mrs. Colquitt left the mansion, she was pre- 
sented with a diamond pendant, presented by her 
friends among the women of Austin and selected by 
the Chairman of the Gift Fund, Mrs. Colquitt's loyal 
friend, Mrs. C. 0. Yates. 

At the close of the Colquitt administration Governor 
Colquitt moved his family to a beautiful home in 
Dallas, where they are now living. 



14$: 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



MIEIAM A. WALLACE 

WIFE OF JAMES E. FERGUSON 
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS FROM 1915 TO 19— 

After James E. Ferguson made his spectacular cam- 
paign for Governor of Texas and won, the social world 
of the State was anxious to see the wife of this mag- 
netic man who thus far had brought all classes and all 
creeds to look in the political mirror through his eyes. 

At first Mrs. Ferguson objected very seriously to her 
husband's entering the Governor's race. The first 
intimation she had was at the 1913 Dallas State Fair. 
A party, including Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, was at the 
hotel, and the qualifications of the different candi- 
dates were being discussed, when Tom Henderson 
said, "Jim, get in the race." That race is history. 

For the first time two native Texans are at the 
head of State and social life at the Executive Mansion. 
Governor and Mrs. Ferguson are real partners and 
home-makers, and with their delightful young daugh- 
ters, Ouida and Dorrace, one like the father, the other 
like the mother, both in looks and temperament, the 
life in the mansion during this administration is likely 
to prove dignified and wholesome. 

Ouida, the older daughter, is a school girl in her 
early teens. She is quite dignified for one so young, 
but has, to a great extent, the personal charm of her 
successful father. Ouida is fond of outdoor sports 
and is a good swimmer. She is quite expert with her 
needle, and many a friend has a dainty piece of lingerie 
made by her nimble fingers. 

147 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. FERGUSON 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Little Dorrace walked right into the hearts of the 
Austin people when she entered the Driskill Hotel, 
after her father's election, with her pensive little face 
a little saddened by leaving her Temple friends, and 
with ''Sammie," her pet dog, tucked under one arm 
and her violin under the other. 

Mrs. Ferguson, while quite frail, is a model mother 
and housewife. She is a tall, slender woman with flash- 
ing black eyes and tiny laugh-wrinkles around her 
eyes, that prove she is not void of humor. She has 
a peculiar habit of looking at the back of people's 
heads to judge their character or refresh her memory 
in regard to an old acquaintance. 

She was educated at Baylor College, and her gentle, 
refined manner has won her many friends as well as 
cemented the ties formed in earlier years. Mrs. Fer- 
guson has high ideals in regard to her position as 
Mistress of the Mansion, and yet she has just as strong 
views in regard to her individual liberty. She is pas- 
sionately fond of flowers, and the gallery boxes and 
flower beds around the mansion are a riotous mass of 
glowing color. To the south of the house she has had 
a commodious conservatory built for her exclusive 
use. The beginning of Mrs. Ferguson's official life 
was saddened by the death of her mother, Mrs. Wal- 
lace, and everything social was called off for the first 
winter except a few official duties. 

When she came to the mansion, Mrs. Ferguson 
planned extensive entertaining, and not being strong 
enough to attend to details, she set a new record for 

149 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MRS. EDWINA CROCKETT SNIDER 
Social Secretary for Mrs. Ferguson 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Texas Governors' wives by securing the services of a 
Social Secretary. She selected for this important po- 
sition Mrs. Edwina Crockett Snider, a woman born in 
the Blue Grass region of old Kentucky, but who came 
to Texas when quite a child, and being a Crockett, is 
a loyal patriotic Texan by adoption. Mrs. Snider lived 
in San Antonio, where she has the entree of the ''inner 
circle," and is well known both for her charming per- 
sonality and her varied accomplishments. She is high- 
ly educated in music and is an artist of no mean abil- 
ity. She is a good mixer, loves social life, and is in- 
terested in politics. Mrs. Ferguson and Mrs. Snider, 
though unknown to each other until a short year ago, 
have developed a warm friendship. Mrs. Snider tries 
in every way to spare Mrs. Ferguson the annoyance of 
the many petty details of social and official life and 
entertainment. 

Thus far the mansion affairs have won great credit 
both for Mrs. Ferguson and for Mrs. Snider. The re- 
ception for the Thirty-fourth Legislature and the for- 
mal reception for Lieutenant Governor Hobby and his 
bride, who as the charming Miss Willie Cooper, was 
well known in Texas, New York and Washington City 
society, were the most elaborate. 

When the Farmers' Congress met in Austin, Mrs. 
Ferguson entertained with an informal, but delightful 
morning, thus showing the interest she takes in the 
economic side of life. Besides, the title of "farmer" is 
one of which the Governor is very proud. The girls 
of the canning clubs were charmed with her simple 
graciousness. 

151 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




MISS OUIDA FERGUSON 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 



Miriam A. Wallace is the daughter of Mr. Joe L. 
Wallace and Eliza E. Wallace, of Bell County, 
Texas. She married James E. Ferguson on January 
31, 1899. They lived for several years in Belton, but 
later moved to Temple, where her husband was in the 
banking business with wide real estate interests. 

Mrs. Ferguson opened the season of 1915-16 by a 
unique birthday party given in honor of Governor Fer- 
guson's birthday. The account is quoted in full as it 
was written by that clever reporter, Mrs. Fred Scott, 
who has done so much excellent work along that line 
for many mansion affairs. The clipping is taken from 
the Austin American of September first. 

"Governor James E. Ferguson was forty-four years 
old yesterday. In honor of the occasion, Mrs. Fergu- 
son planned a surprise party for her husband last eve- 
ning in the form of a 'smoker.' A six-course dinner, 
a beautifully appointed table, and sixteen congenial 
guests awaited the Governor's return from his day's 
labor. 

**The table was unique in its decorations. The cen- 
terpiece was a circus ring, with the prominent per- 
formers of the political circus at their respective stunts. 
In the saw-dust ring President Wilson was riding on 
the Democratic donkey, which bore the placard. The 
People Like His Gaits.' President Wilson, in a high 
stovepipe hat, carried a white peace banner. The G. 
0. P. elephant with his head tied up, was lying outside 
the ring, while Teddy, with his big stick, was trying to 
get in. 

" *Just Left,' was Bryan, with a white feather in his 

153 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 




DORRACE FERGUSON 
The Pet of the Mansion 



TEXAS GOVERNORS' WIVES 

cap, and still in the ring. Seated busily at his desk 
was Secretary Lansing. Of course there was a clown, 
but why name him? 

"At each end of the table was a crystal basket ot 
flowers, red and white roses, white lilies, and a deli- 
cate queen's wreath that entwined the mantel. Place 
cards were decorated with pipes, giving the pipe 
dreams of the guests at the dinner. 

"The dinner began with shrimp cocktail and closed 
with coffee and cigars — the latter being "Jim Fergu- 
son" cigars named for the Governor, which Mrs. Fer- 
guson procured from their home town of Temple, in 
especial compliment of the honoree. 

"Toasts and informal speeches were happily made, 
and a flash-light picture taken of the 'Birthday party' 
rounded out the aif air to a pleasing close. 

"Plates were laid for Governor Ferguson, the honor 
guest; Chief Justice Nelson Phillips, Secretary of 
State John McKay, Railroad Commissioner Earl B. 
Mayfield, Senators H. P. Brelsford, James A. Harley, 
S. M. King, W. C. Morrow, T. H McGregor, Represent- 
atives George Mendell and Walter Caldwell, Sheriff 
George Matthews, Col. John Peeler, Rev. H. W. Knick- 
erbocker, Hon. H. H. Sevier, Hon. Gus Wroe, Judge 
William E. Hawkins." 

Mrs. Ferguson never serves liquors at the mansion 
affairs. This meets the hearty approval of the Gov- 
ernor. 

She is but started in her life at the mansion; what 
her future actions and their influence will be on the 
State is on the leaf not yet turned. 

155 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



I am deeply indebted to my aunt, Mrs. Jennie Neill ; 
to the late Judge A. W. Terrell ; to Mrs. Adele Looscan, 
member of the State Historical Association; to Mrs. 
Rebecca Fisher and Miss Lillie Robertson of the 
Daughters of the Republic of Texas; to Dr. Killis 
Campbell of the University English Department; to 
Mr. E. W. Winklen of the University Library ; to Miss 
Elizabeth West of the Carnegie Library of San An- 
tonio; to Miss Octavia Rogan of the State Library; 
to the San Antonio Express for the first material recog- 
nition of the worth of these biographies ; and to the 
Governor's wives or their decendants who have been 
most kind to me in my search after interesting and 
truthful material for this book. 

P. C. J. 












.v" 







> 




S^^^. 










N^^^, 












.'^■ 









f : ^ 0^=^ 






<^^ A^ v'^''^ "^h ""^ o"^^ 






V .<v> J 







%. ,<^* 



,\' 



-<l^ 

^•^. 















^,<v^^ 



"^ ' f-^, ^^ 



* 



':^ fr '^o tS' -i o \ 

ov\ ■ V 1 « "^ ■^ " * >• '^ ,iO 



0' : % 



/- 



vOo. 













p 



I * '^ 



^ ,->'^.'"' 



«.%'^--^>" 



'^- ,cV^' ^ ^'^^ "^^ % ^ 




V * f; 



C. .Vv^' -.^WA 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 544 289 8 • 





